


lost in the moment (then i come back down)

by dqgilly



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Awkwardness, F/M, Light Angst, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2018-12-15 08:57:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11802762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dqgilly/pseuds/dqgilly
Summary: annabeth wished she had never thrown the book at his head. not just because they both ended up stuck together in detention. the mess that followed was much, much worse than she thought it could be--and maybe a bit better, too. (slow burn, mortals, the whole nine yards.)





	1. a detention, a project, a reunion

"All I'm saying is that the gods were really, really inbred." Percy says, an incredibly irritating grin on his face. Annabeth rolls her eyes, turning to Piper as the teacher stumbles awkwardly over his question.

"Chill," Piper blows a tuft of hair out of her eyes, grinning. "We all hate Jackson."

"And yet every day, I hate him more and more." The blond rolls her eyes even harder.

"I've known you since the fifth grade, Annie," Piper is resoundingly unaffected by the glare that she's given for this nickname, "and I have a sneaking suspicion that you hate  _everybody_  more every day. It's a miracle I'm not dead yet, honestly."

Annabeth cracks a smile. "There's been a few times where I've considered it, but you're just too darn cute to smother in your sleep."

"I'm flattered."

"Mrs. Chase, do you have something to tell the class?" Their teacher, Miss Aella (a name Annabeth found hilariously ironic), crosses her arms.

"No, ma'am. Piper and I were just…" She pauses, trying to find the words that will get her out of trouble. "We were discussing the musings of our classmate."

"I see." Miss Aella's always much stricter with the other students than she is with Percy; he flustered her, so it's her weird way of asserting herself. "And what did you have to say about the musings of Mister Jackson?"

"They're stupid," Piper calls out, slouched in her seat.

"Greek Mythology is stupid with or without me," Percy shoots back, relaxed as always. "I mean, how much of it is just ' _Zeus couldn't keep it in his pants, humanity's fucked for a while, somebody dies, the end_ '?"

"Percy!" Miss Aella calls, but she's ignored.

"Greek mythology is fascinating, asshole, and the rest of the class shouldn't have to suffer through your moronic chatter just because you aren't competent enough to appreciate it!" Annabeth yells. She doesn't snap much, but when she does, it's scary.

"Oh,  _so_ fascinating." Percy's yelling, too, but he doesn't seem strained at all. The grin's yet to leave his face. "Your real life being boring doesn't make this shit interesting. It's just a bunch of stories about the gods, throwing their weight around and ruining things for everybody else!"

"God, you are  _such_  an idiot!"

"An idiot with a life outside of ancient Greece, at least."

It's very unlike Annabeth to be violent. Despite her tendency to get in trouble, she rarely gets into anything serious—she knows how to control herself, knows when to pull herself in.

That all goes out the window when she throws a book right at Percy Jackson's stupid, smiling head.

"Both of you, detention, after school!" Miss Aella yells, silencing the whole class. The whole class, of course, except for Percy.

"That's completely unfair! I'm the one who just got a book thrown at me!" He protests.

"You provoked and insulted Miss Chase,  _and_  you used language entirely inappropriate for a classroom setting." Straightening her jacket, the teacher turns back to the board. "Come to my classroom after school. Now, back to the creation of Aphrodite…"

.

"I can't believe idiot Jackson landed me in detention." Annabeth huffs, pushing her curly hair out of her face angrily.

"Look on the bright side," Jason smiles, grabbing Piper's waist and laughing as she bats his arm away. "Piper and I are going out anyways, so you would've just been third wheeling."

"Great." She rolls her eyes as they stop in front of Miss Aella's room. "Wish me luck."

"Just don't kill him," Piper grins. "You might get more detention time if you do."

"You always give the best advice, Pipes." Annabeth sighs, opening the door and walking in.

"There's little miss sunshine," Percy says as soon as she walks in, not helping himself in the homicide department. "Oh, sorry. I should probably watch my mouth—who knows how many books you have on you?"

For a concerning moment, Annabeth wants to laugh, but the moment passes quickly. "Shut up, Jackson. Where's the teacher?"

"Faculty meeting," He grins. "She's gonna be gone for like an hour or two. Told us to sit here and think about the consequences of our actions."

"She's not very good at this detention thing, is she." Annabeth says, not looking at Percy, taking out her phone and putting in her headphones. She plans to spend the duration of this time ignoring him.

Of course, he manages to ruin Annabeth's plan by doing something that can't help but distract her: staring at her. Very blatantly. She can only tell through her periphery, and instead of wondering why he's staring, Annabeth can't help but think that he's almost intimidating when he isn't smiling. Not in a scary, he's-gonna-kill-me way. More like—god, she hates herself for saying this—a model. Like somebody who you know is out of your league. Not that she'd ever even  _want_  to be in his league. Just…there isn't anything wrong with thinking that Percy's attractive.

Annabeth is so caught up in staring straight forward and ignoring him, she doesn't notice that he's moved to the seat right next to her until he taps her shoulder. Reflexively, she jabs him in the chest with her elbow.

"Dangerous with or without a book," Percy groans, smiling again. She's almost relieved. "I'll make sure to remember that."

"Jesus, you scared me," Annabeth sighs, her face reddening slightly. Percy grins wider. His expression isn't quite as annoying when she can see his eyes; they're really, really green, sea green, and look much more genuine than his smile did on its own. "I study Judo."

"You're a lot cuter when you're blushing than when you're glaring."

And the smile goes right back to annoying. "Why are you over here, Jackson?"

"I wanted to know what you're listening to," He explains, raising his hands defensively.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Foster the People."

Percy's eyebrows are always arched when he's smiling, but they stay up as his expression gets a bit more serious—not a serious as it was a moment ago, but backing away from its annoying norm. "I love that band."

"Yeah, everyone loved "Pumped Up Kicks" in 2011," She says dismissively.

"I'm incredibly offended." Percy slaps a palm against his chest dramatically, and this time Annabeth can't help but laugh. "My favorite's "Call it What You Want", actually."

"I'm listening to that right now," She admits, her face growing hot again.

"You should blush more often."

"Do you want me to kick your ass for the third time today?" Annabeth challenges, though she blushes harder. Percy grins for the thousandth time, and for the first time, it doesn't make her feel the need to punch his pretty white teeth out.

"That wouldn't be ideal." He looks down, his black hair falling over his face, and for a moment, Percy looks almost bashful.

"You know, you're cuter when you blush, Jackson." She laughs again, holding out a headphone. "Want to listen?"

Percy takes the headphone, his grin returning. "Sure, that'd be cool."

"Why aren't you listening to anything? Forget your headphones?" Annabeth teases. She feels an awkward need to start a conversation now, uncomfortable with the strange intimacy of sharing headphones with somebody she basically assaulted earlier that day. His expression makes her feel even more antsy than before.

"Don't have one," Percy answers, not quite breezily, staring straight forward.

"Oh." And now Annabeth is bright red. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"It's fine," Percy says, facing her with a smile, one much softer than anything else she's seen. "You didn't know. It's no biggie."

Annabeth stares at him, eyes wide. His face grows serious, very quickly; she has the sudden urge to hide.

"Huh. I always thought your eyes were blue."

Annabeth feels like dying. "No…no, they're gray, yeah."

"Like a storm cloud." Percy drums his fingers against the desk. "It's funny."

"What is?" She asks, trying to gather herself. Annabeth Chase is many things—a fighter, a talker, a Greek mythology buff—but a stutterer had never been on that list.

"You're pretty even when you aren't pissed off." He says simply.

"Um…thanks?"

The song changes before Annabeth can pause it.

"Owl City, nice," Percy nods, turning back to stare at the board. If she didn't know any better, she might say that he looked embarrassed; it makes her feel guilty.

"You're really pretty too," She says suddenly. He turns back, one eyebrow raised, and Annabeth feels like kicking herself. "I mean, pretty in a guy way. Your eyes are nice and green and your hair looks really soft and your lips are super pink, and—I'm going to shut up."

Percy laughs. "Thanks."

"I'm an idiot." Annabeth says, biting her lip. "If you could just, like, forget the past ten seconds, that would be great."

"Like I'd ever forget a compliment like that, wise girl."

Looking up with an eyebrow raised, Annabeth laughs. "Wise girl? Where did that come from?"

"I don't know." Percy shrugs. "The whole braniac thing. Owl city. Your hair's even curly, like they always made gods in ancient Greece. When you put it together, you bear a very striking resemblance to Athena."

"Fair enough." The girl replies. "I feel like I want a nickname for you, now. All I have now is idiot."

"Well, I'm definitely an idiot," He agrees, too quickly, too amiably, and it makes Annabeth feel guilty. "But I can't help you anywhere else, really. I'm boring."

"Seaweed brain," She says suddenly, grinning at her breakthrough. She's even prettier than Percy thought she could be with a smile like that, but he doesn't say anything this time.

"Where did  _that_  come from?" Percy runs a hand through his hair, smiling back.

"Your shirt." Annabeth points out his swim team shirt. "Idiot, swimming, sea green eyes…"

"Poseidon, huh?"

"Not as bad as Zeus."

The conversation lulls there, and the two sit for a while, listening to Annabeth's music. When he isn't looking, she switches the playlist; she has some angrier songs on her phone, and she'd rather he didn't hear them. They're silent, in fact, for the rest of detention, up until Miss Aella finally enters the room, as frantic as always.

"Sorry I couldn't be here—wait, you're in detention, I shouldn't be sorry—the faculty meeting went long. Um, right, so, anyways." The teacher is already gathering her things to leave, but she spares a second to look at the two in a way that's not quite authoritative. "Did you two get over your differences? Realize the consequences of your actions?"

"Yes, ma'am, we sure did." Annabeth nods.

"Oh. Okay, good, you two can leave."

In the hallway, Percy stops Annabeth. "Still want to beat me up, wise girl?"

She's clearly surprised that he's continuing the conversation. "Kind of, yeah."

Percy laughs. "Guess I can't ask for too much. Anyways, are you busy on Friday?"

"No," She answers hesitantly, still remembering his comments about her social life earlier. "Why?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out."

"Why? So I can find a new way to hurt you?" Annabeth teases.

"While that would be great," Percy says, "I'd prefer we just talk. You're fun to talk to."

She does her damndest not to blush, but it doesn't work very well. "That would be cool."

"Cool," He pulls a pen from his pocket and starts scribbling something on Annabeth's arm.

"I thought you didn't have a phone," She says before she can think about it.

"Still don't," Percy laughs, smiling at her blush. "This is my email."

"Oh." Annabeth bites her lip, looking down.

"You should really look in to getting some sort of permanent blush. It looks really good on you, wise girl."

"Thanks, seaweed brain." She rushes away.

"See you fourth period!" Percy calls cheerfully after her.

-

They didn't end up hanging out. Annabeth had sent an email—nothing too desperate, just casual, not even asking anything about plans. He didn't respond.

She'd spent the entire weekend in embarrassed regret, feeling worse and worse as time slipped by without a reply. By the time she got to fourth period, Monday, she didn't even look at him. Didn't even know what she was thinking, really. Idiot Jackson was still just Idiot Jackson.

In the past month, Annabeth has gotten really good at pretending that detention never happened. Rolling her eyes with Piper every time he makes an unnecessary comment, feeling a constant urge to hit him, convincing herself that their little seconds of eye contact were nothing and meant nothing.

Typical stuff.

"These stories really are fascinating." Miss Aella wrings her wrists. "And you all don't seem to be appreciating them, so I've decided to assign a project."

Groans ring around the room, but Annabeth allows herself a quiet excitement. Projects have always been her favorite part of school.

"A  _group_ project." The groans turn into the quiet shuffle and chatter of friends making eye contact and silent agreements to partner up.

"Gee, Annie, wanna work with me?" Piper asks, and Annabeth turns around to face her with a mocking grin.

"Why do I get the feeling you mean 'wanna do all of the work and put my name on it'?" She scoffs with a grin.

Piper shrugs. "Gimme a break, I'm dyslexic."

Annabeth throws a ball of paper at her. "I'm dyslexic too, babe, so I don't know if you can use that card with me."

"You're like, the smartest dyslexic I've ever met. That shouldn't count." The brunette protests, but her whining is interrupted by Miss Aella clearing her throat.

"Before you get your hopes up," She says, an unsteady authority in her face, like she's bracing herself. "I  _will_ be assigning partners."

The groans return. "You'll be writing a, um… a modernized short story based on a myth. The myth, you get to choose. Just…I mean, if you all choose the same myth, I'll, I'll grade that myth a lot harder so…try to be creative with what you choose."

Though she looks like she's anticipating a reaction, nobody says much of anything.

"Right, ah, partners." Miss Aella starts rattling off names. Annabeth listens in the way of somebody only looking for their own name; she is aware enough to give Piper a smirk when the girl's paired with some burnout almost as bad as—

"Annabeth Chase with…Percy Jackson."

Annabeth, in all of her kindness, only smirked at Piper's unfortunate partner. In return, her friend decides to give her the biggest, evilest grin she can manage. For the first time in a month, she locks eyes with Percy for more than two seconds. Her insides twist. He's grinning, too, like they've had this whole thing planned.

"The project is due, um, Monday, so I suggest you make plans fast."

"It's Friday now! You're seriously only gonna give us the weekend to do this?" Piper complains, earning an almost intimidating look from the mousy teacher.

"Yes, I am." The teacher folds her arms. Students flood out of the room the instant the bell rings,

Annabeth does her best to rush out of the class. Unfortunately, her best being significantly hindered by a dragging, Friday afternoon Piper, and she isn't fast enough to be out of earshot when Percy hollers, "Hey, wise girl!"

Reluctantly, she turns and faces him. "Yes?"

He's annoyingly unbothered by her. "So, project. Your place on Saturday?"

"Do we have to talk about this now? Can't I just, I don't know, email you?" Annabeth isn't even sure if she had a reason to say this—after all, it's clearly a more embarrassing situation for her than him—but Percy almost seems to flinch.

"I'd rather get the plans set now, and we don't see each other for the rest of the day. So are you free on Saturday?"

"Yeah, after eight, I have work. Why does it have to be at my house?"

"Parents don't let me have friends over."

"Since when are we friends?"

"Gosh, are we not?" Percy slaps a hand against his chest. He's wearing his swim team hoodie again, Annabeth notices.

"Whatever. My house at eight is good, see you then." She rushes out, walking away and reuniting with Piper.

"Wise girl?" Piper has an eyebrow raised the second Annabeth reaches her.

"Please, don't ask."

Annabeth taps her fingers aimlessly on the keys of her laptop; not with enough pressure to actually type, but enough to make sounds that distracted her from the fact that it's eight and Idiot Jackson's going to show up any minute. Not that it's a big deal. She's been trying to figure out what myth they were going to cover; the Wikipedia page was just so big.

" _Oh, um, the myth…um, you get to, um, choose_ ," She mimics, slamming her computer shut and falling back onto her bed.

"Nice impression," A voice comes from the door. "Though I think you were a bit heavy-handed with the stuttering."

Bolting up, Annabeth turns pink. "Um, hi."

"See, that's more realistic. Hi," Percy says, already wearing his infuriating smile. "Your mom let me in. Nice lady."

"Really? That's news to me." There's an awkward, unbearable moment where he looks at Annabeth like he expects her to say more. She doesn't.

Percy runs a hand through his hair. "So, the project."

"You can come in, you know," She says, opening her computer back up. "Unless you're a vampire or something."

He laughs, walking further into the room, sitting at the edge of her bed. Annabeth can't help but blush a bit more. There's about an inch between her feet and his legs—not that it matters. "Any ideas for what myth we're going to do?"

"I was kind of hoping you had some?" Annabeth replies absently, looking down to the screen. Maybe if she doesn't look at him, it'll make everything less awkward. "The Wikipedia page for this sucks."

"Um…creation of Aphrodite?"

"Kronos gets his balls cut up, forms Aphrodite from sea foam?" She raises an eyebrow. "That's not gonna be very easy to modernize."

"Touché, wise girl. Heracles?" Percy smiles.

"Too long, I think. Nice on the Greek pronunciation, though."

They sit there in silence for a second.

"I got it!" He says suddenly, grabbing Annabeth's ankle. She squeals and kicks, and he laughs for a second before he's on the floor.

"God, I'm so sorry!" She tries, but she's laughing so hard that it's difficult to breathe. "I thought we established that I'm violent when I'm surprised!"

It's so funny that, for just a moment, she's forgotten that she's supposed to forget about detention.

"Whatever, wise girl, you just like knocking me around." Then again, it isn't like Percy ever tried to.

Talk about mixed messages.

"What was the idea?" Annabeth says suddenly. This is too confusing for her, much too weird, and awkward, and something she'd rather not have to handle.

"Oh." Percy props himself up, but stays on the floor. Whether this makes things more or less uncomfortable is difficult to tell. "Medusa?"

There's a beat of silence. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds kind of cool. How would we modernize it though?"

"The gods could be, like, all super famous on social media or something," He grins up at her as he says this, his green eyes brightening, and it's kind of adorable. "And when Athena catches her with Poseidon in her temple, she uses her fame to ruin Medusa and send a bunch of haters after her calling her ugly, or something."

"You can sit on the bed, you know," Annabeth says suddenly, tucking a curl behind her ear.

"Oh, can I? I wasn't sure, what with the whole kicking-me-off thing." The sarcasm is enough to make Annabeth blush. "I'm surprised you don't have a desk, by the way."

"There's too much pressure when I'm at a desk. Like I have to get stuff done. I don't like being forced into things."

Like this project, perhaps, but they both ignore that idea. Pushing himself up, Percy gets back on the foot of the bed.

"Anyways, that's a really interesting idea, but why would Athena attack Medusa over Poseidon? Insta-famous or not, she wouldn't really have a temple for them to hook up in."

"Maybe Athena and Poseidon are secret lovers?" Percy suggests teasingly, raising his eyebrows.

"That's ridiculous," Annabeth shoots back. "Those gods have never had any romantic involvement in any mythos, ever. We can't change something that big."

"How forward thinking of you."

"Do you want an A on this? Because I'm pretty sure we'd end up with points deducted for historical inaccuracy."

"For somebody who had no problem hurling a book at me, you're quite the stickler for rules."

At first, it was embarrassing, but now Percy's constant teasing seem more mean than anything. She glares at him, and he puts his hands up, smirking in a somehow apologetic way. "Maybe Athena and Poseidon had plans," Annabeth suggests, looking away from the boy. " _Not_  a date, just something they had to do together, like planning a surprise party, or doing a project, and Poseidon bailed on her to be with Medusa."

Percy gives her a look, and it's just as intimidating as she remembers; like he's picking her apart, like he can see everything she's trying to hide. "That wasn't too bad, was it?"

"Sorry, what?"

"Coming up with an idea for the project." He says, putting that annoying grin right back on his face, and it's as if nothing happened. Annabeth wishes she had a book. "Surely not anything to curse dear Miss Aella about, right?"

"Right."

The process of actually writing the story is surprisingly painless. Being in close quarters with Percy Jackson? Not so much. She thought the "no big deal" eye contact was a big deal from across the classroom, but it's an absolute nightmare while they're inches away. On her  _bed,_  for god's sake.

"We should totally give Medusa green hair." Annabeth says, eyes glued to the laptop screen. "I mean, the story's basically done, but it'd be a cute detail to add."

"Nice," Percy chuckles. "I can't believe how fast that went by. What did that take, an hour?"

Even though she's been staring at her computer, she hasn't actually bothered to check the time. "Oh my god, it's one in the morning."

"Seriously?" Percy asks, and the alarm in his voice finally gets her to look over. He groans, eyes wide, and runs his hand through his hair. "Shit."

"Do you have a curfew or something?" Her ADHD makes time move fast like that sometimes, but it doesn't bother her much anymore; time doesn't play a very big factor in her life.

"I—no, I don't, but I don't…" He sighs. "I walked here."

Annabeth doesn't want to be concerned, but she can't help it. "Are you gonna be okay getting home?"

"My mom's asleep by now; I don't want to wake her." Percy stands up, pulls another hand through his hair, and starts pacing. It's the most Annabeth's ever seen him care, a world away from his usual easygoing demeanor. "I'll just have to walk, I guess."

"It's too late for you to walk home," She insists before she can think to stop herself. Before she can think of what his other options might be, or if he even has any other options. "I mean, it's too late for me to drive you, so…you can stay here, I guess."

Percy takes a moment to stare at her. His expression is as serious as it was that day in detention, and Annabeth does her best to keep from being unnerved. The stress falls from his face, albeit hesitantly, and he sits back onto Annabeth's bed in a resigned way.

"You can use my phone to leave your mom a message, if that makes things better."

"That...yeah, that would be great, thanks."

As if Annabeth hasn't witnessed enough (completely overwhelming) sincerity from Percy already, listening to him on the phone with his mother almost kills her. He sounds soft, and kind, and genuinely sorry, all of the things that Idiot Jackson should never be. She isn't sure if she loves it or hates it.

"Is it okay that I'd be staying here?" He asks once he's off the phone. Finally feeling tired, Annabeth yawns as she nods.

"It's not like we're doing anything wrong. We just lost track of time doing that project, my parents'll be fine with it." Probably. She isn't sure, actually, but there's not much else to be done about it.

Percy looks uneasy, but nods in response anyways.

"I need to go shower, but I mean…make yourself at home."

By the time Annabeth's back, he's lying down on her bed, staring up at her ceiling; the lights are off, and the star stickers on her ceiling give a faint green glow. He jerks up when he hears the door open. "Sorry."

"It's fine," She says in a tired voice, sitting next to him. Her long, blond hair is still damp, but neither of them mind.

They sit there in silence for a while, but it's not the same uncomfortable one from earlier.

"You never responded to my email."

There's not really a reason to say this. Nothing to remind her of it, no need to get it out of the air. Maybe that's the perfect reason to bring it up.

"I haven't really had access to a computer for a while."

No shame in his voice, no awkwardness, just stating facts. It's refreshing.

"I just thought it was a joke you were pulling, or something."

It's not so dark that she wouldn't be able to see him, but she almost doesn't want to look.

"Why would you think that?"

"You're Idiot Jackson. It just seemed like something you would do."

"The beautiful ones are so cruel." Percy says, and damn if she can't  _feel_  the smile in his voice.

"Gee, you think I'm beautiful?" She laughs back. Hopefully the teasing hides her sheepishness like the darkness hides her blush.

"Yes."

It's so simple, so out there, that Annabeth wishes she could disappear. "Oh."

"You really are, you know." He lets that hang in the air. "The first time I saw you, I thought you looked like a princess."

"Really?" He sounds like a little kid, and she can't help but laugh. "I thought you looked like an idiot."

"Most people do."

Nothing feels quite as bad as the person you just insulted agreeing with you. "I mean, I did at first. I never really looked at you until detention, last week."

"And once you got a good stare at me, you thought I looked like what? An imbecile? A freak?"

"I thought…I thought you were so handsome, it kind of scared me."

Annabeth's built up the nerve to stare at him in the near-dark. She can't make out the finer details, like the pink of his lips and the green of his eyes, but the big picture is still there—the straight path of his nose, his dark eyelashes fluttering. The streetlight from outside peeks through her window and lights up his jawline; it looks strong enough to be a weapon, too serious to be a part of somebody as playful as Percy.

He turns to face her, and their eyes lock. Annabeth feels her breath catch, her heart panic, and everything seems to freeze. "You think I'm scary?"

"That's not the right word," She swallows hard. "More intimidating, I guess."

"I think you're scary."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're so real about everything. Every time you glare at me in class, I can't help but feel bad, like I'm disappointing you, and like that's the last thing I want to do. Because I can't get you out of my head, and I don't really mind."

Annabeth gets a sudden urge to reach out, to just touch his arm, and because it's one in the morning and he's right there, she does. Touching him is worse than the eye contact (and a thousand times better).

"If it makes you feel better," She says, somewhere in her voice a surrender, "I can't get you out of my head, either."

Percy puts a hand on her face, and instantly, it heats up. In any other scenario, he'd comment; now simply isn't the time. Annabeth doesn't protest, not even when he starts to trace her features with his thumb. Over her brow, skimming down her nose, across her cheekbones, around the lines of her lips, electrifying her skin inch by inch. His hand falls to her chin and they sit for a moment. "Annabeth?"

"Yeah?" She asks quickly, her mind in a daze but her skin fully awake.

"Would it be okay for me to kiss you?"

There's no way she'd be able to make a sound, let alone form words, or sentences, so she nods, praying to whatever gods might be out there that she's gotten the message across.

Then he kisses her, and Annabeth learns what it feels like to die. It's gentle, and quiet, and fantastic in a thousand little ways. She isn't sure if her eyes are closed, or if everything's just gone black. Not that she'd mind either way.

One second she's curling her fingers into Percy's dark hair, and the next, her legs are around him, his hands on her waist. It doesn't feel explicit; it's not even occurred to her that she's in her room, kissing a boy her parents don't know is still there, sitting on his lap. It feels comfortable, and right in a way that life's never felt.

Time passes before their lips part—a long time, but not nearly long enough—and they sit like this, foreheads touching, eyes still closed.

"That was...nice," Annabeth whispers.

"Yeah," Percy agrees, a bit breathlessly. "It was."

"I'm gonna go to bed now, I think."

"Good idea."

"Good night, Percy."

"Good night, Annabeth."

-

When Annabeth wakes up, Percy's gone. First, she's glad that neither of her parents saw him. Then, she wonders if any of it even happened. A breeze floats through the room, and she nestles into her blankets a bit deeper.

What if she dreamed it all? As much as she hated to admit it—god, how she hated to admit it—it wasn't impossible for her to dream up something like that. It honestly seems more impossible for it to have been real. Annabeth shivers, pulling her comforter up to her neck.

Percy telling her she was beautiful? That he was scared of her? That he couldn't get her out of his head? Percy Jackson kissing her, sleeping in the same bed as her? Definitely impossible.

The wind gets more aggressive, and Annabeth casts a glance at her bedroom window. The window she always leaves closed at night.

It's open, just a crack.

"Shit."

By the time Annabeth's brushing her teeth, she's nearly come to terms with it. She made out with Percy Jackson. Not-so-Idiot Jackson. The dumbass in Greek Mythology. There's not enough there for it to be concrete, not yet, but the abstract is there. Maybe if she gives it a few hours—

Her phone lights up with a call from Piper, and she's grateful for the distraction.

"Hey, Pipes, what's u-"

"Oh my god, Annabeth, I know you just had your project with Idiot Jackson and you probably need three rants and a therapy session to get over it, but that has to wait because you need to get your ass over here right now!"

"What?" She almost has whiplash from Piper's manic words.

"Get over here!"

"Where is here, Piper? Have you taken your meds yet today?"

"Yes, actually." For an lone second, the girl on the other end is calm. "Here is Jason's house! Here is where you need to get right fucking now! Come on!"

"Okay, okay!" Annabeth can't help but laugh. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

.

As Annabeth knocks on the door to Jason's apartment, an odd feeling of nervousness settles over her.

The door swings open, and Thalia, Jason's older sister, is standing behind it. This must be the reason Piper was so excited over the phone. "Hey, kid!"

"Thals!" She wraps the older girl in a hug, smiling. "How've you been?"

"I've been good, punk."

Taking a second look at Thalia's dark hair, dark makeup, and dark…well, everything else, Annabeth laughs. "Yeah, I'm the punk here."

"Watch the attitude," She warns, grinning and gesturing Annabeth into through the door.

The entire apartment is a mess. Jason and Thalia's parents aren't around much, but Jason's quite possibly the neatest guy in human history; it only looks this bad when his sister's in town.

"So are you the reason that Piper was so hyper over the phone?"

"I don't think even god can claim to be responsible for how hyper that child is, but I'm not the spark that set her off this time."

"Well then what…" Annabeth dies off as she comes to the living room doorway.

He's sitting there. Right there, in Jason's living room, on the couch. Like nothing had happened. Like nothing had changed. If Annabeth didn't know how to feel this morning, if she thought what happened last night was unbelievable, if she thought everything was going to change before…this is where it gets a million times worse.

"Annabeth!" Luke grins, standing and wrapping her in a hug.

Is she hugging back? It's hard to tell. He smells the same, like metal and soap. He's still taller than her by about five inches, and his eyes are the exact same color she remembered—hyper-saturated, overwhelmingly blue. It doesn't matter that Annabeth's not hugging back. Luke holds her, and she feels small and contained. Like nothing had happened. Like nothing had changed.

"Luke! You're—you're back!" She can't keep the disbelief out of her voice. "God, I…why didn't you tell me you were coming back? How are you? Forget you, how's Oxford?"

"Calm it with the questions, officer," Piper calls. She's sitting on the same couch that Luke had been sitting on; so is Jason. Annabeth didn't even notice at first.

"It's been three years!" It's a bit overwhelming for the girl. "You've barely even called!"

"Gosh, Annabeth, so needy," Luke teases, still smiling. She blushes, and the other three laugh.

"I just figured you'd forgotten about me around all of those beautiful British girls," She shoots back, trying to recover, trying to keep herself from sounding like the whiny ex-

"How could I possibly forget about my gorgeously precocious girlfriend?"

Like nothing had happened. Like nothing had changed.

They'd started dating when Annabeth was in the seventh grade. Luke was a sophomore in high school, and she had been the luckiest (and coolest) girl in the entire middle school. It sounded like a joke—after all, he was the best friend of the sister of the boyfriend of the best friend—but to them, it never was. Maybe he got made fun of for dating a girl almost five years younger than he was, but Annabeth was never around when it happened. He always told her she was worth the jokes.

The two weren't perfect, but the best relationships weren't supposed to be. Fighting meant you cared about each other. Luke cared about her more than anybody ever did.

.

"I'm home!" Annabeth calls, walking through the door. They'd been at Jason's apartment for a few hours, but Thalia left for work, and the project still hangs over Piper's head.

Her stepmother's right by the entrance, lips pursed. "Well, you were out for quite a while."

"Hi, Mrs. Song-Chase," Luke smiles, passing through the doorway. He made the decision to come home with her in the interest of catching up. The frowns fades from the older woman's face when she notices him. She's always liked Luke— more, probably, than she'll ever like Annabeth.

"Luke!" She laughs. "When did you come back to the states?"

"Flew back in this morning," He responds. "I couldn't waste any more time away from your daughter."

" _Step-_ daughter," Mrs. Song-Chase corrects, managing to keep her grin from fading too much. "Honestly, I'm not sure what you see in the little troublemaker."

They both laugh, but Annabeth casts her eyes down. She's not joking, not really, and everybody knows that.

"Well, I don't want to get in the way." As she leaves the room, Annabeth notices that she doesn't bother giving her a disparaging look. She didn't look at her at all, actually, but it's still a nice change.

They head to her room. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Annabeth laughs at the coincidence; two boys in her room in less than twelve hours. She pushes that away as fast as she can.

"So," Luke says, lying down on her bed, putting his hands behind his head. "Cheat on me much while I was in England? Different boy every night?"

She turns beet red. "Of course not."

He sits up against the wall, his expression falling just a bit. "Such a liar." A small smile rests on his face as he shakes his head. "You're too beautiful to have been alone all three years I was gone. And you're too smart to think you could convince me otherwise."

"I'm serious-" Annabeth protests.

"It's okay, I forgive you. Stop lying."

There's a beat of silence, and then she laughs, partly in disbelief and partly in relief.

"I mean, it's not like it matters, now that I've come back." His smile grows into a grin, and he holds out a hand. "C'mere."

Annabeth knows what this means, knows that she really has been forgiven, and she goes to sit with him on her bed. His embrace is familiar, and so is his kiss; overpowering and minty and not quite warm. She starts crying, just a little bit, but that's familiar, too.

.

"Annabeth, Percy, I'd…I'd like to s-speak with you after class." Miss Aella calls out right before the bell rings.

Annabeth curses under her breath. Her number one focus today—yesterday, too—has been to avoid eye contact with a certain Poseidon look-a-like, and thanks to a month of practice, she's been very good at it. In fact, she's yet to look at him.

Reluctantly, she walks towards the desk, careful to refrain from looking at Percy. Even though he's looking at her. Even though Annabeth can feel her cheeks heating up, even though she knows he can see the flush on her cheeks, even though she kind of wants to hear what joking comment he has about it.

"I…I read your assignment, y-yesterday." The teacher says once the classroom has emptied.

Was it too campy? Did she think it was plagiarized? Was it not what she wanted?

"It was—it was lovely. You two really, you really understood…what I was asking f-for here."

Percy nudges her gently with his elbow, and Annabeth would bet money he has a cocky expression on his face.

"Thank you, ma'am," She says, smiling. "It was really fun to write."

"It was actually all my idea," He adds, and Annabeth turns to shoot him a glare.

Shit.

Percy looks exactly the same. Not that it would make any sense for him to look different, but...still. A thousand things have changed—it's unfair that he doesn't. His grin is of the usual, sarcastic fare; his eyebrows are propped up in their usual arch; his eyes…

Never mind. Something has changed. Percy's eyes have some light behind them, but there's something else there. A bit of confusion, maybe. A question. It's enough to make her look away. "He's just kidding. Obviously, we worked together on it."

"A-alrighty, then." Miss Aella pushes up her glasses jumpily. "Well, I—I wanted to…to ask if you all would want to read it to the class."

"Oh, um-"

"We'd love to," Percy answers before she can get anything else out.

"Great! Th-that's, ah, great." She's clearly happy that there's no resistance. "You…you can go now."

Annabeth bolts as quickly as she can—that is, as quickly as she can while looking casual.

"Wise girl!" He calls out, but she keeps going. "Annabeth, wait up!"

He's not going to give up, so Annabeth decides to, in the interest of saving time. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Percy asks, the confusion finding its way into his voice. "You've looked at me, like, once in the past two days."

"I just," She bites her lip. "…does it matter?"

There's definitely some hurt in his eyes. "I mean, kind of. To me."

"Oh." Annabeth's caught off-guard by the honesty. It reminds her of Saturday night, which is disarming in itself.

"Shouldn't we, I don't know, talk?"

"Talk about what?"

"You know."

She bites her lip harder and casts a glance towards the cafeteria. It's full of people now, yelling and laughing, and Annabeth would give anything to disappear into the crowd right now.

"…my boyfriend came back to town. Yesterday."

Percy's eyes widen. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

To be honest, she didn't exactly, either, but now that he's back it doesn't matter. "He was in England for three years."

"Oh, I'm sorry. We can just—we can just act like nothing happened, then. You're really cool, and I don't want to make things weird." He says, giving a sheepish smile.

"That's really nice of you, actually. It would be great if we could do that. See you around," Annabeth smiles. "Seaweed brain."

She walks away before she can see him smile back.


	2. an agreement, a suggestion, an introduction

Wednesday nights have always been Piper nights for Annabeth, ever since they became best friends; a time so long ago that neither of them can remember. It didn't really matter what they did—watching bad movies and doing their homework (read as: Annabeth dragging Piper through it), usually—it just mattered that they did it together.

"So, let me get this straight," Piper laughs, giving up on pretending to care about her math homework for the night. "You and Jackson have to read your short story to the  _class?"_

Annabeth groans, falling backwards onto the couch; she's giving up on her work, tonight too. Special occasion. "Yep."

"That's what you get for actually trying, Annie."

A benefit to Piper's house was the abundance of pillows left lying around. They were great as ammo. "One day, Pipes, when your house doesn't collapse because I  _tried_  when I designing it, you'll be thanking me."

"While that is a valid point, and I'm flattered that you're so eager to design my future home," She giggles, chucking the pillow right back into her friend's face, "I don't think getting a B on a short story in a class about  _Greek Mythology_  is going to do much damage to your architectural career."

"At least I put effort towards my future career." It's a stupid blow, and it's not even that true. For all of her distraction and apathy in school, she still worked with passion towards her goal of being a filmmaker.

"Hey! Why do you think we're watching this movie?" Piper demands, gesturing wildly to the awful horror movie playing on the TV. "By watching terrible movies such as this one,  _Psycho Boyfriend Killing Spree VII_ , I'm educating myself on what kinds of films to  _never_ make."

Piper might not care about school enough to be on the debate team, but she's an arguing force to be reckoned with. The girl's as convincing as the devil and at least three times as pretty.

Annabeth can't help but groan even louder. "In my defense, it was a pretty clever story! It was about-"

"You can save it for later, Blondie. I'll hear it in class tomorrow, anyways."

They both stop talking for a minute, instead opting to blankly watch the movie. The pretty blonde virgin screams as she realizes that her boyfriend is, in fact, the psycho killer. The pair laughs as she manages to trip over every object in existence as she runs away.

"I'm gonna die, dude," Annabeth says suddenly.

"What?" Piper turns over, still laughing bit. "You aren't in this movie, are you?"

"Ha, ha," She rolls her eyes. "I mean the whole reading my story with Idiot Jackson thing."

Even though Piper McLean isn't the most observant person on earth, she does finally notice something wrong with her friend's fixation. "What's your damage with it? I mean, it's Idiot Jackson, yeah, but you survived  _writing_ the story with him. How bad can it be to read it with him?"

Annabeth thinks. She sighs. As the on-screen blonde stabs her boyfriend and a cheesy special-effect makes it look like an evil spirit leaving his body, the off-screen blonde makes up her mind to tell Piper about everything that's been going on with Percy. If anybody can muck through such an awkward situation, it's her.

"So remember when I got detention, like a month ago, for throwing a book at Per…Idiot Jackson's head?

"How could I forget such a beautiful moment? Why?"

"Well…"

Just then, there's a knock at Piper's front door.

"Nose-goes!" Both girls exclaim, but Annabeth's finger reaches the tip of her nose a second too late.

"I'm too old for this, you know," She sighs dramatically as she struggles to stand up. Her place on the couch will have lost all of its warmth by the time she gets back.

"Whatever, granny." It hardly bothers Piper that she's a year younger than Annabeth, but it's still a good teasing point every now and then.

Her hair's a bit messy, and her sweatpants are kind of old, but she doesn't care.

That is, she doesn't care until she opens the door to see Luke.

"Hey, Annabeth." He grins.

"Luke!" She feels her face reddening, and she tries to hide herself behind the partially-opened door. "What're you doing here?"

"What, don't want to see me?" He grins wider, pushing the door open and walking into the living room.

"It's girls' night," Annabeth says, wondering if he's forgotten. After all, he has been away for three years.

Luke chuckles. "That little meet-up with you and Piper every week, yeah. It's okay, I don't mind."

 _Gee, how considerate of you_ , Annabeth almost wants to comment, but she manages to shake the thought out of her head in time. Why would she say that kind of thing to him?

"Oh, hey, Luke," Piper says, shooting Annabeth a look with her brows furrowed. "What're you doing here?"

"I figured we could use the time to catch up," He says, sitting down on the couch. "Ugh, is this one of those boyfriend killer movies, or whatever? They're so shitty."

"That's the point, dude!"

.

Piper doesn't let up when Annabeth sits down in fourth period. "Did you invite him over last night?"

"Hi to you, too, Pipes."

"Seriously, did you?" She presses.

"Of course not!" Annabeth insists, folding her arms. "That night is off-limits to boyfriends!"

"I know!"

"I know, too!"

They lock eyes defiantly for a moment before they start laughing.

"God, I'm sorry." Piper shakes her head. "Of course you didn't invite him. That's stupid."

"I know." Annabeth giggles. "I am sorry that he showed up unannounced like that."

"It's cool, I guess. No biggie."

The bell rings. Annabeth's had a sense of dread walking into this class every day for a while now, but today's is the worst by far, and she remembers why as Miss Aella walks to the front of the classroom.

"W-well class, today, we are…we are going to h-have two of your classmates read their…their short story to us. Th-they really got it, a lot—a lot better than most of you." She turns her skittish gaze first to Percy, and then to Annabeth. "Are…are you to ready to read your story?"

"Sure are, Miss A!" Percy says, all smiles and good cheer.

Reluctantly, Annabeth gets up from her desk, but she manages to look confident enough by the time she's in front of the class with Percy.

"So, how do you wanna do this?" He asks with a low voice, turning to face her.

"What?" She responds, taken aback and a bit uncomfortable with how close he is.

"Who's gonna read what?"

"Oh." Annabeth shrugs. "I'll read the girls and you read the boys."

"Can I narrate?" Percy raises his eyebrows.

"I mean, if you want to, go ahead."

"Sweet."

The class isn't been thrilled about the reading at first, but as the story progresses, they all get into it. Annabeth's glad; it makes it a lot less awkward to be up there, droning on in a voice that was half-valley girl, half-snake.

The voices were  _definitely_ not her idea, by the way. Percy had the first line, and he read all of his parts funny—the best being the grim British accent he used for the narrator, with Poseidon's surfer voice not far behind. It would've been flat-out lame if she'd read monotone.

"Well, since of ugliness we cannot your insides free, matchingly hideous will your outsides forever be." Annabeth says in her slightly-less-ridiculous Athena voice.

"Like, what does that even mean?" Percy laughs.

"It  _means_ , I'm going to  _destroy_  your girlfriend on YouTube, Instagram,  _and_ Twitter."

The class roars as they finish up the story with a dramatic flourish—as well as a lot of anguished hissing on her part—and when the pair goes back to their seats, Annabeth isn't even blushing too badly.

"V…very well done, you two. I hope that—that hearing their s-story has finally…finally shown some of you how  _interesting_ Greek Mythology is." The class begins to talk the instant she finishes.

"As much as I want to mess with you about that," Piper sighs, "It was actually really good."

"What happened to 'that's what you get for trying too hard'?"

She rolls her eyes with a begrudging smile. "Are you just incapable of taking a compliment without being a total ass-kicker about it?"

Annabeth's flattered, but also suspicious; her friend's getting a look on her face that's a bit too familiar, a bit too scheme-y.

"I have an idea." Piper starts innocently enough. "What's Idiot Jackson's phone number? Just out of curiosity."

There's only a moment where she panics. Then, for the first time, Annabeth finds herself endlessly grateful that Percy doesn't have a phone. "Doesn't have one."

She rises from her desk with a shrug. Far from being disappointed, Piper manages to somehow look eviler.

Why do these things always have to happen to her?

.

Annabeth's sitting on Piper's couch again. It's not a Wednesday. She's not watching a shitty horror movie.

"It's not that big of a deal, dude." Piper points out again. "You dealt with him when you were writing it. You dealt with him when you were reading it in front of class. How bad could it possibly be to work with Idiot Jackson on this?"

It would've been easier if Piper had brought it up to her first. With enough denial and a few death glares, Annabeth could've shut the whole thing down. But no, her friend is much too smart for that; she asked Percy right away.

She still had the option to say no, of course. Piper couldn't actually make her do something she didn't want to do. But Annabeth's name must've come up in the proposal, and when Percy had glanced at her excitedly—not that she'd been staring—she knew she couldn't say no.

Things are cool between them now, anyways. It would be…uncool for her to try and ignore him. No matter how much she wants to.

Which means that all Annabeth can do now is sit in her spot on the couch and wait for him to show up. Piper would tease her more, but she's too deep into her brainstorming mode for that.

"It would be cool for you guys to wear kind of Greek-style clothes…or is that too much? Shit, who's gonna play Medusa? I could call over Rachel…yeah, she's got the curly hair, that would work…"

The typical manic quality to her voice isn't helping with Annabeth's anxiety, but the white noise is nice nonetheless.

"Annabeth? Are you even listening?"

It's always jarring when your white noise expects a response. "Sorry, what?"

"I asked if Rachel still has green hair." Piper rolls her eyes.

"She had green hair when we saw her last week," Annabeth answers.

"Yeah, but she dyes her hair, like, every other week. I don't know if this is the other week."

"Sorry, let me get out my Rachel calendar…" She teases. Then she remembers why she's here again, and her smile falters. "Why exactly are we doing this, again?"

"Because you're my best friend, and you love me?" Piper widens her eyes and bats her eyelashes. Annabeth shoves her face away.

"Ugh, I don't know why I keep you around."

"I'm pretty good to look at, you gotta admit."

"I  _meant,_  why are we doing the video in the first place. Not why my most recent lapse in sanity has led me to star in it."

She grins. "C'mon, man. That story was a movie waiting to happen. You probably could've sold it to some Hollywood big-shots, honestly."

"Really?" Annabeth raises an eyebrow. "I think I'm starting to reconsider letting you have my idea."

Starting to. Right.

"Nah, I'm the only one who's going to protect your artistic integrity."

She's actually laughing when there's a knock on the door. Piper waggles her eyebrows and bolts towards it. There's no time wasted on noes-goes tonight.

Annabeth takes a deep breath. She needs to calm down. Maybe if she lists all of the reasons that this isn't a big deal, she'll calm down.

She loves Luke.

Percy agreed to act like nothing happened.

They only even kissed the one time.

It was late.

She can barely even remember how soft—

"Idiot Jackson has arrived!" Piper announces, walking back into the living room with Percy trailing behind. His hair is kind of wet. Maybe he had swim practice today?

"Is that what you guys call me? Idiot Jackson?" He grins.

Piper turns back to look at him. She almost looks ashamed for a split second, but Annabeth doesn't think Piper's ever felt shame. Like, ever. "Shit, yeah, sorry dude. Force of habit."

"Nah, it fits. I like it." He shrugs.

"You might actually be cool, Jackson." She gives him an appreciative look before letting herself fall back onto the couch. "Let's get down to business."

Percy hesitates for a moment, clearly a bit uncomfortable with sitting down. It's too familiar.

"You can sit down," Annabeth manages.

He does. The couch only has two cushions—Piper takes the right side, Annabeth takes the left—but Percy doesn't seem to have a problem with sitting on the downward-sloping spot where the cushions meet.

"I was thinking today would probably be better for planning, y'know, like location and voices and costumes. The whole shebang." Piper grins a little harder, drumming on her thighs.

"Might as well get started," Annabeth tries her best to smile. She wishes it would feel easier when they both smile back.

**-**

"You know, Jackson, you aren't too shabby."

Percy tries to do his typical smirk, but he's in the middle of shoving a handful of chips into his mouth. It comes out looking a bit constipated, and Piper laughs.

He takes a moment to finish chewing. "I'm honored, queenie."

Laughing incredulously, she raises an eyebrow. "Queenie?"

"Hey, it's not like it doesn't fit."

Annabeth left about an hour ago (After another hour of painfully awkward moments. Why did it have to be so awkward? Was it his fault?), but Percy had to wait for his friends to come pick him up for work.

" _I'm not, like, Satan,"_  Piper had said.  _"It's cold. I won't make you wait outside until they show."_

Percy was more than a bit worried that Piper would attack him or something—maybe a bit dramatic, but she's best friends with  _Annabeth_ , after all. He had reason to be worried.

Then the unexpected happened: they actually got along.

It doesn't even take much, actually. An awkward "So…you like video games?" leads to a passionate argument about Paulina versus Peach, and everything's smooth sailing from there.

"You got me there." Piper gives a half-laugh, brushing the choppy hair out of her eyes. "But seriously, I don't know why Annie's been putting up such a hissy fit about you lately. She freaks out whenever your name comes up."

This is something Percy's been unsure about. Would Annabeth have told her about that night? He really doesn't know her well enough to tell—doesn't know if she's the type to tell her friends everything. Clearly, she isn't.

Percy's not sure if this is a good thing. He's not sure what she would say if she told Piper, either. (It would probably be along the lines of,  _oh, I made out with this idiot to keep him from talking anymore, he wasn't even a good kisser_.)

So, Piper's cool. Percy's an idiot. Annabeth's doing a really good job of making him want to crawl into a hole and die—not that he holds it against her. Why wouldn't a girl that beautiful already have a boyfriend? Why would a girl that intelligent ever like him?

"Earth to Jackson," Piper says, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Shit, sorry." He's been zoning out, probably for a while. "I was just thinking about…stuff."

"You can think?"

"It's news to me, too." A horn—one that sounds more than a bit like a dying duck—honks from outside, and Percy stands up suddenly. "That's them."

Piper stands up, too, and walks him to the door. "So, Annabeth said she'll be in touch with you about the next meet-up. I still need to talk to Rachel, but it should be pretty soon."

Percy nods as he walks towards the truck in front of the house. "See you then, queenie!"

He always did have a thing for nicknames.

"Remind me again why you were at Piper McLean's house?" Leo asks from behind the wheel as Percy slides into the passenger seat.

"It was about that whole project thing I had to do for mythology," He explains, keeping his voice neutral, like it isn't a big deal. (It isn't a big deal.)

"Ooh, that story you wrote with Annabeth?" Hazel pipes up from the backseat. Frank's back there, too; the pair is sitting as far away from each other as possible, but Percy can see the way their hands just barely touch on the middle seat. "I still really wanna read that."

He shrugs, turning to watch all of the familiar landmarks pass on their way to the diner. "It was mostly just Annabeth. I just made stupid suggestions while she did all of the work."

"Well, I wanna read your stupid suggestions."

"You're too kind, Hazie." Percy rolls his eyes, but he smiles, too.

Leo, as per usual, isn't in the mood for the sentimentalities. "So you get to do a video with two of the hottest, scariest girls at school. How long is this going on for, exactly, and is there a part available for a scrawny Latino god? 'Cause Valdez is a god even when he's not acting."

"The hottest girls in school? What, do you have a list?" Frank says, teasing with a laugh that's only slightly uncomfortable.

"It's common sense! Listen, I know they aren't, like, Silena Beauregard or Drew Tanaka staus, but they're up there. Definitely prettier than you, Percy. Out of your league."

Hazel shoots him a look, but Percy only laughs.

"If they're out of my league, then what hope is there for you?"

They all split up once they get to Auntie Em's, the diner they've been working at for years. Leo and Frank head to the kitchen. Percy and Hazel get ready to start waiting, tying aprons and pulling up hair.

Ten minutes later, the latter par is sitting at one of the tables, chatting. It's a very slow day; the pair isn't going to get in much trouble for taking an unofficial five-minute break. Plus, Leo and Frank are still busy in the kitchen, so they're actually  _alone_.

"So I'm guessing it didn't go too well?" Hazel asks, the sympathetic look already growing on her face.

This situation isn't exactly something Percy wants to talk about. "It turns out that Piper McLean is actually pretty chill."

"And Annabeth?" She presses, skipping right over his attempt at deflection.

"Less chill," He sighs. "She barely even looked at me, Hazel. And she left so fast, I'm surprised she didn't burn rubber driving away."

The pity on her face is in full force now, and Percy can't help but look away. She's basically his little sister, and he tells her everything, but sometimes he wishes Hazel could be a bit less understanding.

"I'm sorry, Percy."

"It's fine. I told her I'd act like nothing happened, and I'm gonna keep it up. It's my fault that this whole thing is such a mess, anyways."

"That's not true." Her golden eyes burn through him, and he feels guilty. "She kissed you back. If she had a boyfriend, she should've said something. You even  _asked_  if you could kiss her, for heaven's sake."

Percy shrugs like he'd rather just drop the topic. "But I don't blame her. I just want to be able to be in the same room as her without feeling like an ass."

"It'd probably be better for you to forget about  _her,_ not just the night. What good is going to come from you pining over a taken girl, especially one who's ignoring you?"

"It isn't…" Percy sighs, weaving a hand into his hair. "That's not what it's like. I like being around her. Even if means just being friends, or acquaintances, or whatever."

"That's really sweet," Hazel beams for a moment before she remembers what he's talking about. The way her face falls makes everything feel a little bit worse.

"I'm screwed."

"Yeah," She admits, a dim smile still on her face and a sad look in her eyes. "You kind of are."

.

Hazel's giving him the same look as he gets out of Leo's truck and walks towards the door of his apartment building. It's been cold for March, though, and he doesn't have a heavy jacket, so he only gives a quick wave to the car before rushing inside.

"I'm home, mom!" He hollers once he gets through the door.

"Hi, honey!" Sally Jackson calls back from the kitchen. The smell of sauce wafts over with his voice and Percy feels his stomach grumble. He hasn't eaten since lunch, which was maybe nine hours ago.

The boy was starving.

He walks into the kitchen and grins when he sees two of his favorite things in one room: his mother and lasagna.

"How was your day?" She smiles at him, serving them both plates. Percy came home pretty late, sometimes, but Sally always did her best to stay up to eat dinner with him. If he wasn't going to be home until very late, or not at all, he always called by ten.

(Except for last weekend, he thinks. Then he does his best not to kick himself for thinking of it.)

"Good," Percy answers as they sit down on the couch. "I'm kind of doing this video project thing, now."

"Another project?" Her lips purse slightly. "But you just spent so long working on that one for Mythology."

He can't help but give a little laugh. "It's not for school. And it's because of the Mythology project, actually."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. My partner…her friend really liked our story, and she wants to make it into a YouTube video."

"A YouTube video? Isn't that the website?" Sally asks, smirking, like she's proud to act as the 'technologically clueless parent'. Percy gives a teasing smile back, but it's not like he's much better. He doesn't even have a phone.

"Yeah. It seems like it's going to be cool."

"Sounds like it, honey."

They sit in a comfortable silence for a while, eating and watching a Disney movie they caught on TV. Once they've both finished, Percy yawns and puts his head on her lap, and he can feel her stomach move as she chuckles.

"Aren't you getting a bit too old for this?" She asks, starting to stroke his messy hair.

"I hope not. How was your day?"

He can hear the smile in her voice as she speaks. "It was a good day. Work was alright, and my writing class was…fun."

"Fun?"

"Fun." Sally shifts on the couch, and Percy sits back up. "Can I ask you something, honey?"

"What is it?" He can't help the concern that's already leaking into his voice. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She smiles again. "I was just wondering…how you would feel if I went on a date."

"A date?"

"A man in my class asked me, he's lovely and his name is Paul, but it's been a while, and I know neither of us have completely forgotten about Gabe, but-"

Before Sally can get too worked up, her son wraps her in a hug. "That's great, mom. I'm happy for you."

After the movie's finished, Percy insists on cleaning up, and she eventually gives up and goes to bed.

He's his room around midnight. If Percy had any homework, he surely wouldn't do it, but that's maybe the best part of senior year: there's almost no homework. Being terrified to reach adulthood and go into the real world is a bit less fun, but at least he has the time to worry now.

Unfortunately, in the past month or so, 'worry-about-adulthood' time has become 'try-not-to-think-about-Annabeth-while-totally-thinking-about-Annabeth" time.

There's a lot to 'not-think' about.

How her curls bounce every time she moves her head, shaking her head at something stupid he's said.

How gray her eyes are; no blue, or green, or anything else in them. Just pure slate.

How pretty it is to see her skin tint red, almost impossible to see beyond her tan skin. (How did she stay tan all year like that? In New York City?)

He could still kind of taste the mint from her breath, still kind of smell her coconut shampoo, still kind of feel her barely wet skin.

How much does she hate him now? Or does she even care? What does her boyfriend look like? Does he know?

Maybe they laugh about it together.  _This guy thought he had a chance with me, it was so funny, until he kissed me. Then it was sad funny._

How long has he liked Annabeth?

Much longer than he's willing to admit. At the beginning of the year he remembers disliking her; the way she answered every question, the know-it-all tone to her voice. He has no idea when that changed. Sometime before she threw a book at his head, definitely. He'd started saying stupid things just to see her furious expressions bloom. (The red flush to her face looked good, no matter the cause.)

Hazel's right. He needs to get over her.

Can he?

**-**

It's Saturday—noon, to be exact—and Percy's standing in front of Piper's door.

Even though she is cooler than he initially thought, there's still a very strong chance that Piper McLean will be the death of him. Maybe he would be more open to the whole video project if not for Annabeth; not only is she clearly opposed to the project, but she's pretty obviously opposed to Percy himself, too.

Nevertheless, they've both fallen under Piper's charms. Now Percy's standing— _on Saturday, at noon_ —in front of her door, trying his best to steel himself for another day of internally hitting himself while Annabeth refuses to look at him.

(Don't think about it.)

He's going to open the door…now. No, now. Okay, this time, he'll definitely—

The door swings open with his hand still raised in the air.

"Yo, you've been standing there for like five minutes and majorly creeping me out, but Piper said to let you in."

There's a girl standing in front of him, a questioning smile half-seated on her face. Her hair is green (her fingers stained the same shade), her skin is freckled, and she's maybe a head and a half shorter than him.

Percy laughs. "Didn't mean to make you think I was stalking."

"Yeah, that would be embarrassing." Her grin loses a bit of its edge as she nods. "Stalking during the daytime through the front door is an amateur move."

"That'd be a shitty first impression," He agrees.

"I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare, anyways." Rachel says, rolling her eyes—they match her hair, Percy notices. The formal, full name introduction is kind of funny coming from a girl wearing torn up, scribbled-on overalls.

"Percy Jackson. Short for Perseus. Since you told me your first name."

"Idiot Jackson! I've heard a lot about you." She rolls her eyes again. "Annabeth will  _not_  shut up."

She's telling everybody about him? (Was it really that bad?)

"So your parents are into Greek mythology?" Rachel interrupts his train of thought, walking back into the house.

"What?"

"Perseus? Greek hero, demigod, son of Zeus? Like, the only hero to get a happy ending  _ever_?"

Clearly, Rachel's more than a bit into the myths herself.

"Uh, I don't know. I've never really asked my mom, and she hasn't called me that since I was, like, seven." Percy doesn't think he's ever been asked about his name before.

"No dad, huh?" She says without thinking, and for the first time since she's opened the door, the girl looks embarrassed. "Sorry. You don't seem like a son of Zeus, anyways, so it's not like it matters."

Percy waves a hand through the air. Rachel's a bit jumpy, not quite like anybody he's met before, but comments about his father (or lack thereof) are much more familiar. "No biggie."

"You're more of a Poseidon, I think."

Again, he's reminded of Annabeth—of detention—and this bothers him more than the comment about his dad. He's not even wearing his swim hoodie today. "What makes you say that?"

Rachel gives him a curious look. "Isn't that who you're playing? The sea god to my snake hag?"

"Oh. Oh, yeah, I am." He scratches his head. "Sorry, I'm a dumbass."

Her look lingers for a moment more. "There are worse people to be turned into a snake hag for."

Percy can't think of anything to say in the time it takes them to get to the living room.

"Hey, cool, it was you chilling on my doorstep. I was pretty sure, but there was still the chance that it could be one of my many gentlemen suitors," Piper comments as they enter, barely glancing at him. She's sprawled out on the couch, taking up the entire space, and Annabeth sits primly on the arm chair (she doesn't look up at all), typing furiously on her laptop.

"Don't be ridiculous, Pipes." Rachel smirks. "Jason isn't the stalker type."

She ponders this for a moment, frowning. "You're right. Actually, thank god you're right—that boy is already way too good at getting through my window."

(He remembers crawling through the window, thrilled but embarrassed, doing his best to close it from the outside.)

"Are you done yet, Annie?"

Finally, she looks up—only to glance at Piper. "I'm finishing the ending."

"The ending?" Percy asks. Annabeth keeps typing.

Piper shoots her a strange look. Then, propping herself up on her elbows, she answers. "Well, as fantastic as your story is, it needed to be script-ified for the actor's convenience."

"Oh, cool." He has no idea what this means, but he nods as if he does.

There's a beat of awkward silence. Rachel rises her eyebrows slowly as it passes, her eyes skimming the other faces in the room.

"Done." Annabeth speaks, lifting her face from the screen; they land on Rachel's face, and she blushes at her expression.

(She's still too pretty when she blushes.)

"Sweet!" Piper sits up entirely, grinning manically. "Let's get this show on the goddamned road, folks!"

.

"We should go out sometime," Rachel says with a mischievous smile, her eyebrows raised. "Wouldn't it be fun?"

Percy raises his eyebrows to match hers. "Oh, definitely, babe."

"Are you free this Saturday? Maybe around eight?"

"I'm free anytime for you," He grins. He doesn't even bother checking the calendar on his phone before answering.

For a moment, neither of them say anything.

Then, Piper bursts out laughing. "That was fucking perfect!"

Feeling his face burn, Percy groans, shoving his face into his hands. "Poseidon's such a douchebag!"

"You're the one who wrote him that way!" She shoots back. It looks like she's tearing up from the laughter.

"That's before I knew that I'd have to  _play_  the prick in some shitty YouTube video," He objects through another groan.

"You're the one who agreed to be in the shitty YouTube video, my friend," Piper says, wiping a tear from her face. Her grin's spread all the way across her face.

When Percy finally raises his head back up, his face is tomato-red.

"You look pretty good with a blush, Jackson," Rachel jokes.

(Don't look at her.)

But he can't resist a glance. Annabeth's face turns bright red, too, and Percy bites the inside of his cheek a bit harder than he should.

"Don't lie to him, Rach," Piper says, unknowingly rescuing him from his train of thought. "His face is so red, he looks like Pizza Face."

"You mean Octavian?" Her laughter is loud—a bit abrasive, really—but it's kind of nice in a chaotic way. "Do you guys really still call him that?"

"How could we not-"

They're interrupted by the ring of the doorbell.

"That's weird," Piper frowns. "Jason said he wasn't gonna stop by tonight. Who else could that…"

She turns to give Annabeth a quick, questioning look; the other girl casts her gaze down, biting her lip.

"Did you…?"

"No.  _No_ , of course I didn't." She shakes her head, giving a small laugh. "I mentioned that I was going to be here, but I didn't invite him."

(Him.)

Giving a heaving, dramatic sigh, Piper rises from the couch and walks to the door. The trio can't see her from the living room, but they can hear the door open, and muffled voices being exchanged.

The door closes, and two sets of footsteps can be heard on the hardwood floor.

Percy feels his blood freeze when they enter the room. His heart is racing a bit, and his hands are sweating a bit, and his eyes are a bit too wide. He knows before he knows.

( _So this is what he looks like.)_

"Hey, Rachel!" Luke says enthusiastically. "I haven't seen you in a while. Annabeth said you were all here tonight, and I thought I'd stop by."

Rachel raises a stained hand. "What's up, Luke? Long time no see."

His hair is sandy blonde, on the shorter side. He smiles for a second more before he turns to look at Percy. "Hey, I'm Annabeth's boyfriend, Luke. You are?"

"Percy." He responds, nodding semi-casually.

Luke's eyes are a bright, cold blue, and even though his smile is bright, Percy suddenly feels incredibly unwelcome. Even though he's sitting down, he guesses the other boy is taller. Maybe just by a couple of inches, but still.

( _So this is what he looks like._ )

"Nice to meet you, Percy. Hope you haven't given my Annabeth any trouble while I was away."

Before Percy can really process the comment—he has given her trouble, hasn't he?—a little red flag pops up in his head.  _My Annabeth. (My Sally.)_

"Are you kidding, man?" Piper has a bit of annoyance in her eyes. Maybe she didn't want Luke to interrupt their practice. "This is the legendary Idiot Jackson that you're talking to. He doesn't give anybody anything but trouble."

She laughs, and Luke gives a chuckle. "Oh, this is that Jackson kid you guys complain about?"

His face relaxes a bit, and his eyebrows raise with his laughter. He has a scar running through one of his eyebrows. "I've heard a lot about you, dude. It's a pleasure."

( _So this is what he looks like.)_

.

They'd kept practicing for a bit, this time with Luke adding in his own comments on what lines had potential, and what he thought was stupid.

It only goes on so long before Percy needs to clear his head, kind of desperately, and bails for Piper's back yard.

There aren't forests in the city—not in people's backyards, at least—but she lives farther out, in the suburbs, and there's not really much other place to be. So now Percy's sitting on the wooden deck, staring out at the sunset. It's almost gone. The sky's nearly dark, only the undertones of red lingering.

_(So that's what he looks like.)_

He hears the back door slide open, then close.

"That was some weird shit with Luke," Rachel comments, sitting next to him.

"What do you mean?" Percy doesn't really want to look at her.

Rachel sighs. "Just…don't make fun of me for sounding like a hippy…but the vibes were off, you know? It seemed like things were going on in the undercurrent."

"I don't know what you're-"

"Luke's always been the jealous type," She interrupts. "I don't go to your high school, but I went to the same middle school as Annabeth and Piper. He was kind of crazy."

Percy still isn't sure if he knows. It definitely doesn't feel like Luke likes him, but that doesn't mean much. Making out with somebody's girlfriend seems like grounds to be more hostile than he was; maybe a death stare, or a swift punch to the jaw. Maybe Luke's just really talented at making people feel like shit.

_(So that's what he looks like.)_

"He was jealous of me? Why?" Odds are, he probably doesn't know. Percy doesn't see Annabeth caring enough to tell anybody.

Percy needs to stop caring. She's made it pretty clear. Act like nothing happened.

"I don't think that matters."

"No?" He turns to look at her, finally. Rachel's expression is intriguingly blank. She shakes her head like a little kid, all fast, her curls-they've frizzed a bit-whipping around her face.

"No. There's really only one question that matters, I think," She confirms softly, tilting her head and looking at him in the eyes. They were greener than his own; more leaf than sea. "Should he be jealous?"

He needs to get over it.

He needs to get over it.

He needs to get over her.

Percy shakes his head slowly. "No. No, he doesn't."

"Okay."

Rachel slides her hand into his. He has no real objections—her hand is soft, and a bit chubby, and there's dried spots of paint on top of the dye-stained fingers.

Maybe he can.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooh some nice percy POV fresh off the press...what do you guys think of rachel so far?


	3. a surrender, a closet, a myth

In Annabeth's opinion, some things are just  _wrong_.

Pineapple on pizza.

Pouring milk into your bowl before the cereal.

Percy and Rachel dating.

It isn't exactly dating, she guesses—in the few weeks since they met, they've gone out maybe three times—but it's enough to give Annabeth a strange sinking feeling in her chest. Rachel's a big proponent of PDA, and there's been a lot of hand-holding and knee-touching and cheek-kissing.

It doesn't make sense, but then, neither do Percy and Rachel. Together. Dating. Rachel likes art, and weird underground-indie-alternative-whatever bands, and studying ancient religions. Percy likes…

What does he like?  _Foster the People_ , she remembers,  _and Owl City_. Nothing else comes to mind, no foods or subjects or colors. Is this really all she knows about Percy? Two bands that he likes?

Maybe Annabeth could get to know him better if she could make eye contact with him for more than two seconds at a time. According to Piper, he's actually cool.

 _Rachel certainly thinks so_ , she thinks, shaking her head a bit.

"Sorry you've been waiting. I totally heard you knock, but I was on a goddamned  _roll_  with some costume design and didn't want to waste it," Piper says, falling onto the couch rather ungracefully. Ever since they've started working on this video, she's been bursting with insane energy; it reminds Annabeth of how she was middle school, her eyes always wide, changing topics mid-sentence.

"I know where the key is," She responds, rolling her eyes.

"It really  _is_  a wonder you haven't killed me in my sleep yet."

"I told you, you're too damn cute to murder when you're unconscious."

Piper grins with a sigh. "You have no idea how reassuring that is to hear, Annie."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, because I'm about to ask for a favor that could put you in a  _very_ homicidal mood."

Annabeth laughs, and Piper keeps smiling. After a moment, though, it becomes clear that she's not joking. The laughter leaves her. "What is it?"

There's so much resignation in her voice that it's barely even a question.

"I need you to get your head majorly unstuck from your ass. When you're around Percy, at least."

Needless to say, this catches her off guard. "What?"

"It's pretty self-explanatory, dude," Piper shrugs. "I get it that he's kind of stupid in class sometimes but, like…Jackson's cool. Athena and Poseidon are supposed to get along at first, and the whole dynamic is off right now, seeing as you can't even look at him without glaring."

She wants to protest, but she can't—not really. Not without telling Piper about why she's so weird around Percy. When the two agreed to act like that night never happened, she decided not to tell anybody else, and she hasn't. She's been sitting on this god-awful secret for almost a month now.

And Annabeth kind of hates herself for it.

Just a bit. Because she has Luke, this great guy who she knows she doesn't deserve, and she cheated on him. She really wants to tell herself that it's more complicated than that, but it really isn't.

"You okay?" There's a joking tone to her voice, as usual, but there's a bit of confusion on the edges. "Is it really gonna be that hard for you to act like you don't despise him? Even just for the camera?"

"I don't despise him," She objects, feeling her face heat up. For the past couple of months, Annabeth's started blushing even more when she realizes that she's blushing. It's a goddamned vicious cycle.

Somewhere under the blushing, though she realizes that she doesn't hate Percy at all. None of this is his fault. He's been really nice about it, honestly; Annabeth bets he's not half as obsessed with the incident as she is.

"That's good," Piper says in a light tone. "Definitely good, because that wasn't the actual bad news."

"Are you trying to kill me?" She groans, giving a smile that's not too pained, given the circumstances.

"I added in a romantic backstory, so, you know, maybe."

" _What_?"

She cackles at her reaction. Annabeth doesn't feel much like laughing. "Added a romantic backstory. Between Poseidon and Athena. I wanted a reason for them to not like each other, and if we make it romantic, then it'll give Athena even more reason to be pissed when he bails on her to hook up with Medusa. Amp up the drama, you feel?"

"I fucking hate you, Piper."

"It's not  _that_  bad. There's only gonna be one kiss."

Annabeth gapes at her.

Somebody knocks on the door, and her head whips towards it anxiously. Piper just grins in a typical, evil, Piper-y way, and Annabeth truly does consider murdering the girl for a moment. She feels the need to complain before the happy couple enters, before she loses her chance to.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me. After all of these years of friendship, you're going to make me pretend to be in love with Idiot Jackson for the world to see! The injustice! The...the...this is stupid!" She doesn't mean to be quite so melodramatic when she started talking, but the situation was kind of dramatic.

Throw a book at a guy's head.

Make out with the guy.

Stop talking to the guy.

Agree to star in a video with the guy. As their ex-girlfriend.

Annabeth feels like she had the right to yell, just a little bit.

"What's stupid is that you're so freaked over this, Annie." Piper sighs, catching her off guard. Is Piper  _judging_  her? Acting like she's the immature one? When there's Idiot Jackson and paint-stained Rachel and their abomination of a relationship to worry about?

He agreed to act like it never happened, she has to remind herself. You are the immature one here. This is your fault, anyways.

Annabeth takes a deep breath as she hears Piper pull the door open.

"You  _need_  to listen to them. God, how am I even  _speaking_ to somebody that hasn't listened to Lush?" Rachel's voice is loud and clear right away.

Percy shrugs as they enter the living room, where Annabeth's sitting, trying not to give off too many 'I despise you' vibes. She almost rolls her eyes at the thought. (Vibes are more Rachel's speed.)

Rachel's her friend, but recently it seems like everything about her has gotten more…obnoxious. And it's not her fault. Just another thing for Annabeth to feel bad about.

"I'm not really into old music."

"You can yell at Percy for his questionable music taste later, Rach," Piper interrupts. "We need to tell him, and then we get can get started."

Casting a quick but obvious glance at the silent girl on the couch, Rachel raises her eyebrows. "You told Annie? She's actually okay with it?"

"I mean, she reacted like I told her he'd just pissed in her cornflakes, but-"

Annabeth decides she's tired of everybody speaking around her. "I'm fine with it."

"Fine with what?" Percy asks, still in the dark. She does her best to keep looking in his general direction, but it's really hard. Sun-blinding-her-eyes hard. Not that he's bad to look at. Some things are just  _wrong,_ and for now, looking at him is still one of those things.

"You're okay with kissing the girl who threw a book at your head once, right?"

Annabeth doesn't mean to, but she looks at him when Rachel says this. Their eyes lock, both expressions just barely panic-flavored, and she remembers how green his eyes are as her heart speeds up. The way she said it, so casually, like she doesn't know. Hasn't he told her?

" _We can just—we can just act like nothing happened, then."_

Too goddamned nice.

"Um…" He clears his throat awkwardly. "Why—why do you ask?"

Piper laughs again, and she doesn't know, Annabeth knows she doesn't know, but she feels like throwing another book. "God, why are you both so freaked out? It's not like we're asking you to make out. Just a kiss for the video."

"But…in the video, Poseidon and Athena aren't-"

"I know. I added it in." She cuts him off gleefully.

There's an awkward moment of silence. Rachel breaks it. "It's not like you guys are really cheating or anything, if that's your damage. Piper already cleared this with me, and Luke…"

The three girls exchange slightly uncomfortable looks.

"I didn't ask, but I'm sure he'll understand," Piper speaks up; it's a weak argument.

Nobody says anything, but Percy's still looking at her. Not conspicuously, but still, she can feel his gaze. Annabeth had always been better at feeling him than looking at him.

That came out wrong. Even though it's only in her head, Annabeth blushes.

She knows why he's staring at her. Percy's asking for permission.

Maybe it's because he's so nice. Maybe it's because she's tired of everybody thinking she's so unreasonable. Maybe it's because she  _is_  being unreasonable, just a bit.

Whatever it is, it gets Annabeth to swallow hard and nod ever-so-slightly. She manages another glance at him—practice makes perfect—and he looks even more caught off-guard than before as he opens his mouth to reply.

"Yeah. Okay, I'm good with it."

-

In Percy's opinion, the costumes are the worst part. (Almost.  _Almost_  the worst part, he'd correct himself later.)

Rachel looks really nice. Her outfit's a bit busy—shiny black leggings, a shirt that matches her hair (the hair that matches her eyes), a studded leather jacket, and a tangled mess of necklaces—but it makes her look very…villainous. Not in a bad way, he doesn't think.

His own costume, however, is the most embarrassing thing he's ever worn. They aren't bedsheet togas—this is  _modern_  mythology, he guesses—but it's nothing close to his style. (Never mind that he doesn't really have a style. If he did, it wouldn't be this.)

He's wearing a white vee-neck that makes him feel exposed, a denim blazer that makes him feel like an 80's douche, and mustard yellow skinny jeans, which just make him feel sick. A maroon scarf—one that makes him want to jump directly into the pits of hell—completes the look.

He'd definitely put up a fight when he left the bathroom, faced with Piper's permanent grin.

" _I look like an idiot!"_

" _You look like a self-absorbed, overdressed Instagram model! Which is good! That's what you're supposed to look like!"_

" _Why do you even_ own _this stuff?"_

" _That's none of your business, Jackson."_

But his costume isn't the worst one, even counting the scarf. Not that he likes wearing it, because he definitely doesn't, but at least he doesn't have to  _see_  himself wearing it.

Annabeth Chase is pretty. Gorgeous, if he's being honest—so is Rachel. And Piper. (They must've been a stupidly attractive trio in middle school.) She wears a lot of sweaters and oversized tee-shirts from volunteer projects; sometimes a loose-fitting button down. A lot of cardigans, too, usually with jeans. Nothing hideous, not that it matters, but nothing that a teacher, parent, or nun would turn their nose up at.

The contrast between what she usuallyy wears and...well,  _this..._ it's probably why Percy can't keep himself from glancing at her every few seconds. It's really, really bad.

She's in some weird flowy shirt. The shoulders are missing, but it still has sleeves, which seems kind of stupid to him. It does look kind of Greek-style—Grecian—though. If that even means anything. She's also wearing denim shorts; it may be forty degrees here, but Piper claims this whole story is set in California.

He hadn't been able to see her legs very well the last time he (don't think about it) had the chance to, and they're more than a bit distracting. Every time Percy looks at her, he feels like an asshole.

The costumes were absolutely, totally, undeniably  _almost_  the worst part.

.

"You're so mean, hun," Percy whines.

"You're such an idiot, babe," Annabeth shoots back in a mocking tone.

"You know you love me." He shifts gears quickly, winking in a way that Annabeth tries to ignore.

She sighs with a smile. "Yeah, I do."

Percy grins, Annabeth rolls her eyes, and they stare at each other. They both want to look away, desperately almost, but for some reason, neither of them can.

Her eyes are so gray. So, so gray. Percy's pretty good with reading people, but he can't read them at all.

"Cut!" Piper calls.

 _Oh, right,_  he remembers.  _That's what kept them from looking away_. This is their fourth time trying to get this scene right, and it isn't going too well. Annabeth's able to act like she doesn't hate him now (a nice but confusing development), and the actual lines haven't been too awkward—he doesn't think—but then they reach the moment where they're supposed to kiss. That's when things go wrong.

Percy knows that she doesn't want to kiss him; that's part of the problem. His own issue is a bit more complicated.

His sort-of girlfriend is in the room.

(He told himself he was done with this.)

She clearly doesn't want this to happen.

(He feels like such an asshole.)

This entire thing is uncomfortable.

(He kind of wants to kiss her.)

"I'm glad you guys have gained the ability to look at each other without imploding, but there is still a  _kiss_  that has to happen. You can't just stare at each other the whole time." Piper says, half joking, half serious.

"They just need to, like, go make out." Rachel laughs from where she's sitting, and Percy almost chokes on his own spit. She's always this casual, this outspoken, but he thinks her Medusa costume makes her enjoy it more than she usually does. "That would help."

That's the only reason he can think of that his sort-of girlfriend would be able to say that kind of thing like it's no big deal. It's not like she knows about that night (that never happened), but still. Shouldn't she be a little jealous?

" _What_?" Annabeth snaps, and even though he feels the same way, the acidity in her tone isn't very nice to hear.

She runs a hand through her curly green hair with a smirk. "You know, to break the tension. That's the only I can see the awkwardness going away."

"You're right." Piper giggles a bit as she nods. "Not even trying to be a dick on that one. You guys need to take like, three hundred chill pills each, and if you kiss off-camera, it'll probably make it a lot easier."

"I…we can't just  _do_ that. It's not…kissing each other would just…I mean…" Percy stammers; he's having trouble believing this is happening.

"Are you scared of kissing in front of us? Want us to close our eyes?" Piper teases.

Annabeth's redder than he's ever seen her. She's also stopped looking at him. (And they were making so much progress.)

"We can seven minutes in heaven it," Rachel suggests. "Lock you in a broom closet for a while, wait for you to sort your shit, get the first kiss out of the way, and we move on from there."

It's sort of weird that she's not jealous at all, but Percy doesn't think he minds it. She's always so confident and upfront. (Annabeth is too. Not around him, not anymore, but that's not her fault.)

"Sounds very middle school," Piper nods. "I'm into it."

They barely have time to protest before the closet door locks behind them.

Annabeth bangs desperately on the door. "Let us out, assholes! What the fuck kind of closet door locks from the outside, anyways?"

"This kind of closet door!" Rachel laughs. "Convenient, right?"

"We're gonna go rehearse her lines!" Piper shouts back.

"See you in seven minutes, lovebirds!"

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit,  _shit_." She says, giving one last fruitless bang on the door before sliding down to sit on the ground. She lifts her knees to her chin and stares at the carpet. Her curly hair tumbles over her shoulders and hides her face, and Percy has the urge to tuck it behind her ears.

He has no idea what to do in this situation, but it feels awkward to keep standing while Annabeth's hunched over in defeat, so he sits down, too.

"Hi."

Annabeth looks up at him, face flushed, and groans. She's tucked her knees up to her chin. "Hi, Percy."

(He shouldn't like it that much when she says his name.)

"So, um…how are things?"

"Currently? I kind of want to die."

"Oh."

"Has it been seven minutes yet?" Annabeth covers her face with her hands.

He knows that it hasn't, but he checks his prop phone—one of Piper's dad's old ones—anyways. "It's been one minute."

" _God_. Why are the lights off? Is there even a light in here?"

Percy turns on the phone's flashlight and points it at the ceiling. "Nope. You want me to keep this on?"

"That would be delightful."

"We don't…" Her head is still down, and Percy might be staring at her. "You know we don't have to do this, right?"

"Yes, we do."

"No, we-"

"You know Piper's going to be able to tell if we don't. We'll be just as awkward as before."

Percy doesn't know what to say. Now they're both staring at the floor.

"You didn't tell her, did you? Rachel?"

"What?"  _Is she really bringing it up_?

She looks up, but not at him. "About…you know. You haven't told her."

"Didn't—didn't we agree that it never happened?"

"Yeah, but…she's your girlfriend, right? She probably wouldn't even care that much."

"I guess not." He hasn't told anybody but Hazel. "So, you told Luke?"

"God, no. It would…he would…" Annabeth meets his eyes, just for a moment. Maybe it's just his imagination, but she looks genuinely terrified. (Where has he seen that expression before?) "I cheated on him. I didn't mean to, but I did, and telling him would only hurt him."

This just makes him feel like an even bigger asshole than before. "We  _really_  don't have to do this."

Annabeth shakes her head like a little girl. (It's really cute and also he has a sort-of girlfriend and he's an asshole and this is a mess.)

"Piper's not gonna be talked out of this. We just…" Her sigh is so labored that it almost hurts him. "Need to get it out of the way."

Very suddenly, she untucks her knees from under her chin and stands up. "Come on."

After a much-needed moment to process, Percy stands, too. Annabeth's all business now. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," She closes her eyes and takes one more shaky breath. "Just do it, alright?"

"I…"

(He can't do this. He really, really can't.)

Annabeth opens her eyes and examines him with her unreadable eyes. Percy stops breathing. (Is she really going to?)

She grabs his face-her hands are soft, her nails are bitten down—and yanks his towards hers, pressing their lips together.

(Fuck.)

He doesn't mean to, but he raises his hands to Annabeth's face, too; she doesn't stop him. She seems hesitant, maybe scared, and Percy swears he can feel her heart pounding. Personally? His heart might shatter his ribs. He's responding way more than he wants to, way more than he should, but he thinks she's responding, too. (This isn't what it feels like to kiss somebody who hates you.)

She's pushed against the door, but it isn't like it was his idea.  _Annabeth_  was the one who'd been standing against the door.  _Annabeth_  was the one who'd pulled him over. Percy was just doing his best to keep himself from pressing into her. That would only make things worse.

They pull apart, eyes jammed shut, both breathing too hard. After a beat, their hands fall from each other's faces quickly, like their skin is electric, like they hadn't realized they were still there. Their eyes are both jammed shut.

"What's your favorite color?"

Percy isn't quite sure what he expected her to say, but it wasn't this. "What?"

"What's your favorite color? I don't know anything about you, and I think it might help if I did."

"It might help what—"

"Can you just answer the question, please?" Her eyes are still closed.

"Blue."

Annabeth exhales, and her eyes open, but they don't look up. "Thank you."

Somebody knocks on the door.

"We're coming in! Hope you're fully clothed!" Rachel calls out cheerfully. Percy's eyes shoot open and he takes two massive steps away from her.

"Did you guys actually do it? Or did you sit here and stare at each other the whole time?" Piper asks, pulling open the door.

Annabeth swallows hard, but it's barely noticeable paired with her eye roll. "We kissed, assholes. Happy?"

"Yes!" Piper claps enthusiastically. "Thank  _god_. Are you guys gonna quit being such awkward little shits around each other now?"

Percy is dead silent, and he's trying to keep his eyes from seeming to wide. He's scared that, if he were to speak, his voice would be two octaves too high.

"We'll try our best," Annabeth rolls her eyes again. (He can't see it, but he can hear it in her voice.)

Piper and Rachel give out some mocking, overly enthusiastic cheers.

"Did it ever occur to you that locking us in a closet and telling us to kiss might make things  _more_  awkward?"

Her smile dampens. "No, not really." Then, it kicks back into high gear. "Good thing it didn't, huh?"

.

It doesn't dawn on Percy until they're at the end of the scene that he would have to, well, kiss her again. (Annabeth has clearly been expecting this. She has to make the first move for the second time.)

And again.

And again.

The kisses are definitely far from the first—no, not the first—one in the closet. Swift and chaste, like taking a spoonful of medicine. Every time, though, his heart still speeds up, and he still feels like an asshole. (In the script, it demands that Poseidon  _'smile cheekily'_ once the kiss ends. That doesn't help.)

So, yes; the costumes are horrendous, but they're far from the worst part.

-

Athena looks down at her phone for the third time in five minutes. “Why is he so late?”

_“We should go out sometime,” She says with a mischievous smile, her eyebrows raised. “Wouldn’t it be fun?”_

_He raises his eyebrows to match hers. “Oh, definitely, babe.”_

_“Are you free this Saturday? Maybe around eight?”_

_“I’m free anytime for you,” He grins. He doesn’t even bother checking the calendar on his phone before answering._

She would send another text, but she’s sent three in the past hour with no responses. It’s not like she even _wants_ to work with him. They’d agreed that this was a business matter—nothing more, nothing less.

Athena’s already spent days psyching herself up to deal with Poseidon, and he doesn’t even bother to show up.

She waits for ten more minutes, checks her phone a couple more times, but there’s only so long one can wait for an idiot like Poseidon without questioning their sanity. Gathering her laptop and throwing on a denim jacket, Athena begins the walk to her favorite coffee shop, The Sanctuary.

It’s easier for her to work when she’s alone, anyways.

Usually, she doesn’t have to worry too much about being recognized here; initially, tonight seems like it’ll go the same way. She’s plugged in her laptop, ordered her favorite drink, and settled down in her favorite chair by the time somebody approaches her.

“Sorry, this is like, really weird, but…are you Athena?” The girl is maybe fifteen, and she’s wearing owl earrings and Nike sneakers.

Athena manages her usual smile; social media fame was nicer before it started spreading into her everyday life. She isn’t very good with people sometimes. “That’s me!”

A grin spreads over the girl’s face, and she does a little jump-squeal thing that’s both endearing and a bit uncomfortable. “Oh my god! It’s actually you! I’ve followed you for forever, on _everything_! Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr…I love you so much!”

“That’s so sweet,” She says, maintaining her smile. It’s been like this for months, but she’s still not quite used to it.

“My friends over there are huge fans, too.” Athena follows her pointing finger to a table of two girls the same age as this one, both giddy and grinning and giggling.

This is typically where she’d end the conversation, but for some reason, when she sees them together all young and happy, Athena’s mood changes.

“You should introduce me.” Her smile gets a bit less fake when she sees the girl’s jaw drop.

“Oh my god, Clio, is that actually Athena?” A girl with short blonde hair basically shouts.

The girl, Clio, nods at an impressive speed.

“Oh my god!” The other girl, this one with black hair and pink braces, actually shouts.

This may have been a mistake. “Hey, guys.”

“You are like, my _favorite_ person on the _planet_. Your outfits are always so perfect and your makeup is always so nice and your homework is always so neat--” Braces girl cuts herself off suddenly, blushing.

“Don’t mind Erato, she’s obviously in love with you.” The blonde teases.

“Not as in love as you are, Urania!” Erato shoots back, but the protest is a bit weak.

“Guys, you’re smothering her,” Clio pipes up. Athena raises an eyebrow; apparently, she’s too cool to be wowed now that she’s in front of her friends. “She’s just a person.”

“But she’s, like, _not_ just a person. She’s _Athena_.” Erato seems to like emphasizing her words.

It’s weirder to get insane praise like this in person. In the comments, she can distance herself from it. This is almost alarmingly real.

“Wait wait wait can I ask a super important question?” Urania asks.

Athena shrugs. “Go ahead.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

The trio of girls begins to squeal.

_“You’re so mean, hun,” He whines._

_“You’re such an idiot, babe,” Athena shoots back in a mocking tone._

_“You know you love me.” He shifts gears quickly, winking in a way that she tries to ignore._

_She sighs with a smile. “Yeah, I do.”_

_He leans in to kiss her, and the smell of the ocean on his breath makes her smile._

“Nope.”

The girls seem disappointed by this admission.

“Well…have you had one, like, _ever_? The only boys that are ever in your pictures are Apollo and Ares, and we know they’re your brothers.”

Athena blushes. “Yes. I had one up until two months ago, actually.”

Conversely, this makes them squeal so loudly that an elderly woman stands up and leaves. Maybe it’s unrelated, but she doubts it.

“Can I guess who it is?” Erato bounces in her seat.

Athena furrows her brows. “Sure?”

“Was it Po--”

Before she can finish her guess, the bell at the door of the shop rings, and Athena recognizes the voices that enter.

Poseidon’s with some girl with green hair. He doesn’t look deathly emotional, deathly ill, or deathly dead; these are the only reasons Athena would excuse for blowing her off.

Momentarily forgetting about the teenage girls who she’s been—entertaining? Held captive by?—she storms over to the couple.

“Good to know that you just decided to ignore my texts and blow off my plans, Seaweed Brain, thanks for that.” Athena doesn’t even acknowledge the girl of the week.

“Is everything okay?” Even though she wasn’t addressed, girl of the week has decided that this is somehow her business. She’s met with nothing but a stony glare.

“We had plans?” Poseidon asks, and his casual ignorance is so frustrating, so familiar, that Athena wants to scream.

“Yes, you asshole!” She crosses her arms. “We were _supposed_ to be planning that party for Aphrodite!”

He makes an expression like he’s just remembering this, raising his eyebrows and smiling. “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”

“Sorry,” His little girlfriend giggles. “I’m Medusa. Poseidon didn’t mention he had plans when I asked--”

“Speaking of asked, did I ask you anything?”

“Well, no, but--”

“No, I didn’t, because if you’re one of Poseidon’s girlfriends I already _know_ everything about you. Vapid, idiotic, shallow, maybe ten thousand followers on Instagram and tagging him in every photo you can because you wanna be famous! So if I don’t ask you a question, don’t assume I need anything explained to me.”

Medusa’s jaw drops. “Poseidon, is this Athena?”

Grimacing, Poseidon nods. “That would be her.”

“When you mentioned her,” She starts, a grin that’s trying way too hard plastered on her face. “You didn’t tell me what a total bitch she was.”

Athena’s crowd of teenaged followers, who had been spectating quietly up to this point, start commenting.

“Oh my god.”

“Did she just say that?”

“Oh my god!”

But Athena’s unimpressed. “This is really the best you could do this week, Poseidon?”

“I’m gonna last longer than a week. I’m gonna last longer than _your_ basic ass did, anyways.”

“You always seem to go for the wanna-bes, don’t you, Seaweed Brain,” She sighs.

Medusa was already looking a bit slack-jawed, but she somehow manages to lower it even further. “How dare you, you stuck-up, narcissistic, egotistical, type-A bitch! You’re just jealous.”

“Half of those words were synonyms.”

“Whatever. I don’t give a shit.”

Athena is, by this point, very tired. Planning the stupid party by herself sounds much better than listening to Medusa’s stupidity any longer.

“Well, since of ugliness we cannot your insides free, matchingly hideous will your outsides forever be.” She says, coming up with the rhyme on the spot. Then, she walks back over to the trio of teenagers, who have been not-so-secretly freaking out.

“Like, what does that even mean?” Poseidon, finally speaking up—not to defend his girlfriend, even. Athena’s not really surprised.

“It _means_ , I’m going to _destroy_ your girlfriend on YouTube, Instagram, _and_ Twitter.” Turning to the girls, she smiles. “I’m assuming you guys have already started on that, though.”

Clio blushes. “What makes you say that?”

“Like, we were,” Ilia giggles. “But what makes you say that?”

“I’ve already told three different group chats about it,” Erato adds.

“I started recording after the first time she called you a bitch. The video already has three thousand retweets!” Clio admits finally. Athena figures she’s already getting her own little burst of online fame from the whole situation.

“This is ridiculous!” Medusa turns to Poseidon, pouting. “Aren’t you gonna do anything?”

Poseidon shrugs. Athena smiles; for the first time since they’ve broken up, his flippant attitude is funny to her.

“Ugh!” Medusa huffs, storming out of the Sanctuary. As she leaves, her whining is so raspy it almost sounds like hissing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another three. and just to warn you, once this catches up with what I've already posted on ffn, updates are going to be a lot slower. when that happens, would you guys still want 3 chapters at a time, or just each one as it comes?


	4. a title, an inevitability, a fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> abuse tw for last third///

"I'm gonna do it." Piper says, determination glinting in her eyes.

"Okay," Annabeth shrugs from her spot on the other girl's bed. "Do it."

"I will! I'm like, totally about to."

"I know that. You've been saying that for the past five minutes."

It's the middle of April, the video is done and Piper McLean can't bring herself to press the "Upload" button.

"I can't do it." She groans, laying her head down on her desk, the glow of her computer making her choppy hair shine. (Even when she's being cartoonishly melodramatic, she's beautiful.)

"Why not?" For some reason, Annabeth isn't as frustrated as she could be. The video turned out pretty great, actually, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if nobody got to see her kiss Percy.

Piper groans louder. "This is my baby. I've put blood, sweat, and tears into this video."

"You've cried over this?" Annabeth asks incredulously.

"Well, no," She relents. "But I totally could've. You try doing something like this when two of the stars hate each other!"

"We don't hate each other!"

The other girl lifts her head to give her a look. Annabeth blushes.

"Anymore, at least."

Piper lets her head hit the desk once more.

"You're gonna leave a mark if you keep doing that, Pipes."

"I can't post this yet. I need time to say my goodbyes."

"Has anybody ever told you that you're very, very strange?" Annabeth asks.

"Nope. Everybody else is too distracted by my overwhelming charm and dashing good looks to notice."

She rolls her eyes, even though she knows Piper can't see her. "Fine. I'm going home because it's  _late_  and I generally like sleeping, you can say your goodbyes, and when I come back tomorrow you're uploading the stupid video—even if I have to hit the button for you."

Gathering her things, Annabeth is almost out of the door when Piper decides to speak again.

"It's not stupid! You're stupid."

"A plus comeback, Pipes."

"I know, right?"

.

By the time Annabeth's home, she's beyond exhausted. She only ever drives when she needs to go to Piper's house in the suburbs; once she's back into the city, the traffic is exhausting, no matter how late at night. On top of that, her stepmom had been waiting in the kitchen, ready to grill her again. Just like always.

"You're home late." Mrs. Song-Chase says in the accusatory tone she always, always takes when she's talking to her.

"It's not even ten yet, Carol," She sighs. There's a lot of things Annabeth isn't in the mood for right now, but this pointless interrogation that's gearing up is high on the list. "You know I was at Piper's house. Why did you even wait up?"

"It's a school night, and I was  _worried_ ," The older woman snaps. Bullshit. "And I'll thank you to not take that tone with me, young lady."

"Maybe if you stopped expecting me to do something wrong, you'd actually have time to relax. What are your hobbies, other than hating me?"

"I do not  _hate_ you, I just—where are you going?"

Annabeth is too tired for this. "To bed. Like you said, it's late."

"You are being incredibly disrespectful, as usual—"

"Good night, Carol." She calls, walking towards her room as fast as she can.

It used to kill her that her stepmother hates her. Interactions like this one would make her cry at night. Now, though, she's been dealing with it for a decade; it's gotten old.

Even though she's ready to drop dead as she shuts—not slams, despite how badly she wants to—the door behind her, there's a thousand little routines she needs to go through. Annabeth's never been the type to fall asleep fully dressed with her makeup still on.

Put shoes away. Check.

Shower. Check.

Pajamas. Check.

When she's in bed, Annabeth decides to check her email, just on a whim. It's been a while—for reasons she'd rather not think about—and maybe something important has actually found its way into her inbox.

**From: seabiscuit99**

**Subject: hey wise girl**

"Shit," She whispers. The email doesn't give his name, but she's basically had it memorized since the afternoon he wrote it on her arm. How long ago did he send this?

Checking the date, Annabeth realizes it was sent in late March. Not too long ago, but still kind of embarrassing, considering that she went insane when he didn't respond for three days.

**hey so i have access to a computer now…its been a while lol. you probbably don't even wanna talk to me so idk why i sent this…(this is percy btw if you forgot my email)**

Figures that he's a terrible email-er. (A bit more unexpected is that Annabeth finds it slightly adorable, but that doesn't really mean anything, does it?)

She wonders how he got access to a computer. Did he get one at home? Go to the library? They haven't had many heart-to-hearts about his personal life, but she's figured out from organizing rehearsals that Percy uses any free time he has for work.

**From: skylinegoddess12**

**Subject: seaweed brain**

_Wow, you finally responded!_

That's mean.

_So you do know how to use a computer!_

That's way too mean.

**Hey, Percy. Just fyi, Piper couldn't bring herself to upload the video tonight. (Something about it being her baby?) I'm going to her house to kick her ass about it after school tomorrow.**

**-Sent from Annabeth Chase's Phone.**

_Why did you respond?_ She asks herself, but she doesn't come up with any answers. Why shouldn't she?

.

"Wait, so the video's not done?" Jason asks, sitting down at the table with a tray of lukewarm food in his hands.

"No, it's definitely done." She says with a smirk. Piper tries to glare, but it's nothing as good as Annabeth's usual fare. "Piper's just not emotionally finished with it."

"Piper has emotions?" He smiles at her attempt.

"Not when it comes to you assholes," Piper explains, frowning. "But the video's important! We've been working on it for more than a month! How can I just throw it away like it didn't happen?"

Annabeth laughs. "What happened to this being lightning in a bottle? Destined for internet fame?"

She rolls her eyes. "I was trying to get you excited enough to stomach working with Jackson. The odds of this making it on the internet are like, microscopic."

"Your optimism never ceases to amaze me," Jason says, navigating through something that looks kind of like mashed potatoes.

"Yo, Piper!" A voice comes from behind Annabeth. Piper, who's sitting opposite her, grins when she looks at the person speaking.

"Sup, Jackson?" She asks, clearly glad for the break from Annabeth and Jason's grilling.

Percy sits next to her, but he leaves a full foot of space between them on the bench. Annabeth tenses, just a little, but tells herself to calm down. (The craziest part is, it works.)

"Annabeth tells me you're getting cold feet on the video."

His response time has clearly improved.

"Damnit, you're here to attack me, too."

"How could you? After everything we've been through to make the video, after everything we've  _sacrificed_?" He clutches his heart dramatically—he's wearing his swim team shirt—and Annabeth can't help but giggle.

Maybe it's her imagination, but Percy's eyes seem to slide over to her for just a second as she does. (Probably just in her head.)

"Don't be a dick."

"Tell me how you really feel, Queenie," He laughs.

Piper sighs, shaking her head. "I don't know what to call it."

For a moment, Percy, Annabeth, and Jason are quiet, exchanging confused looks.

"Don't know what to call what?" Jason asks.

"The video," She says snappily, looking up and blowing her choppy bangs out of her face.

They all start laughing then, a bit more loudly than what's necessary; opportunities to make fun of Piper are few and far between—she typically doesn't have the shame to care—and there's no way they'll waste this chance.

"You guys are assholes, you know that?"

"We learned from the best," Annabeth says, batting her eyelashes.

"So all of this drama, this turmoil," Jason pushes his tray of almost-food away from him. "It's because you can't come up with a stupid title for the video?"

"It hasn't exactly come up! And what the hell are you supposed to  _call_  something like this? Titles are  _everything_ nowadays; you aren't gonna click on something that sounds stupider than Jackson every time he speaks up in Mythology!"

Percy raises his hands in defense, furrowing his brows. "Hey, don't take this out on me!"

" _Athena's Revenge_? Lame.  _The Curse of Medusa_? Lamer!" Piper ignores his protests. "If we don't come up with something that doesn't make this video sound like a lame silent film from the 20's, it'll be dead in the water."

The laughter stops; at least, Annabeth and Percy's laughter does. Jason's goes on for another moment before he notices that it's apparently stopped being funny.

"Shit, she's right," Annabeth sighs.

" _Greek Life_?" Percy suggests.

"Thought of it. Sounds like a documentary about sororities."

There's another heavy pause, the type where the sound is gears turning is nearly audible in the air.

" _Deity Drama_?" Annabeth tries.

Piper shakes her head. "That sounds like a really weird reality show."

The next pause is even longer. Jason, who had up until this point been making patterns in his sort-of mashed potatoes with neon orange "chicken nuggets", looks up suddenly.

"This is probably the dumbest phrase I'll ever say, but what about  _Instagram Immortals_?"

The other three exchange glances, gears turning faster, trying to find something wrong.

"That's…it's campy, but it has Instagram in the name, which'll get people's attention…it sounds stupid enough to be funny…Jason, it's perfect! You're the fucking best!" Piper exclaims. Caught up in the excitement, she kisses him suddenly, catching everybody at the table—including Jason—off guard.

The kiss is maybe a second long, but damn if it isn't one of the most uncomfortable seconds of Annabeth's life. Piper's grinning when she moves away, and Jason's face is neon pink.

"Gee, Piper, you're welcome," He says after taking a second to recover.

The bell rings, and everybody gathers their things to head for last period.

"What direction are you going in?" Annabeth says to Percy suddenly. He'd already been leaving the table, but he turns around when she speaks up, trying not to look surprised. "I don't want to do that thing where we split up and then it turns out we're going the same way."

"308," He says after a moment. "You?"

"316." She stands from the table, hoisting her purse onto her shoulder. "Same direction."

At the beginning of the walk, they're both silent, but Annabeth won't stand for that. (Not when she was the one who'd suggested they walk together in the first place, she wouldn't.)

"So you got my email, I take it." She says. Is that an awkward subject? Hopefully not.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Percy looks down at her for a second and almost runs over a freshman. "I get to school earlier now, so I used one of the computers in the library."

"That's nice."

There's another dying pause. "So, do I get to get on your case for taking, like, half a month to respond? Or is that just your thing?"

Annabeth laughs, and it's something genuine; it surprises both of them. "Technically, you didn't respond to the first email, so I'm totally still the victim here."

"Maybe I was protecting you. Maybe not talking to me is way better than the alternative."

"That's not true!" She argues. They're both laughing now, good naturedly, like friends do. If she took the time to think about it, Annabeth would freak out. (Good thing she's not thinking about it.)

"Oh, it's not?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "When you're not being an idiot, you're  _great_ to talk to."

"Am I not always an idiot?" Percy asks, grinning. "Isn't that the whole point of Idiot Jackson?"

"When's the last time any of us called you that?"

This stops them for a second. Annabeth wasn't thinking when she brought it up, but it's true: she can't remember the last time she  _or_ Piper called him by the old nickname.

"Huh. Guess things have changed, huh?" Percy's tone is a bit more contemplative than before.

"Guess so, Seaweed Brain." She replies. He looks at her suddenly, and there's still a smile on his face but she doesn't let herself look for the questions that always broadcast themselves in his eyes.

"This is my stop."

They're in front of room 316.

"See you around, Wise Girl."

"Maybe," She smiles, just a bit, walking through the door.

-

Percy loves Paul Blofis.

It had been weird at first, there's no denying that. Could there ever been a kid who isn't weirded out by their parent dating a teacher? Not that Percy has any classes with him. Paul teaches advanced levels, and he's barely skating by in the few honors classes that his mom (and Hazel) pushed him to take.

Once he got past the weirdness, though, he warmed up to Paul in no time. He's so nice to his mom, so nice to him, so…nice. That isn't something Percy's really familiar with.

Ever since what happened to Sally—ever since  _who_  happened to  _them_ —Percy's been borderline obsessive about looking for any similarities. There was a day in class, seventh grade maybe, where everybody had to watch a video about bullying, and there had been a section on abusive tendencies.

(Why did they need that video for thirteen-year-olds? How can the world be so fucked up that these things happen to  _children_?)

Watching it had raised a million little red flags for him, and they never really went down. He saw them in the video, then he saw them in his mom. He can't help but look for them in everything now.

Paul's safe. There's no similarities at all, no threatening glares, no thinly veiled threats. Sally never flinches around him. (That doesn't mean that Percy can stop himself from checking that she doesn't.)

And there are some good sides to the weirdness of Sally dating a teacher at his school. Percy has a ride to school now, much earlier, and he doesn't have to worry about the subway being late, or avoiding the teachers that roam the halls to catch stray students after the final bell. He can actually go to the library in the mornings now.

He can finally give Annabeth a reason to use his email.

**From: skylinegoddess12**

**Subject: storm**

**Can't go to Piper's to force her to upload the video—it's Instagram Immortals now, isn't it? I didn't even realize we didn't have a name for it until today. Anways, I can't harass her ass because it's storming and Luke and my father say it's too dangerous. Hopefully she's not too big of a mess to do it herself.**

**From: skylinegoddess12**

**Subject:**

***anyways**

.

Maybe Percy's testing the waters a bit when he sits down at Piper and Annabeth's table again today. He had an excuse yesterday; messing with Piper is always a righteous cause. Today, though, he doesn't have a real reason. It makes him kind of nervous

"Are you here to get on my ass for not uploading the video again?" She rolls her eyes, starting the moment he sets his tray on the table.

"Did you seriously not upload it  _again_?" Annabeth looks more judgmental than usual, but the same teasing glint he recognizes from yesterday is there.

"No, I totally uploaded it." Piper says, taking a bite of her burrito. "I was just asking an innocent question."

"Wait, you actually did it?" She says, the judgement leaving her face for surprise.

Piper takes an indignant bite of a french fry. "Make up your mind, asshole! Did you expect me to post it or not?"

"I try not to expect anything from you, Pipes."

"God, then I guess you shouldn't expect to be invited to the delightful wrap party I'm holding tonight."

 _Annabeth must be in a giggly mood today,_  Percy thinks as another laugh escapes her. "A  _wrap party_? For our shitty YouTube video?"

"You know what, little Miss Sunshine? You aren't even invited anymore. I'm officially  _un_ inviting your ass."

"Hey!"

Piper raises her hands in defense. "If you think it's so lame—"

"That didn't mean I wasn't gonna come!" She insists. Her face is actually turning kind of red, but it's something entirely different from the flushes Percy's seen on her before. It comes with a grin. "I was gonna show up and act like I'm too cool for it the entire time, even though I haven't been to a party since Christmas."

He nods solemnly. "Solid plan. That'll show us."

"Oh, shut up, Seaweed Brain."

"Am I invited?" Jason asks, and Percy's pretty sure he's joking. (It's kind of hard to tell with him.)

"Nope." Piper shakes her head with a smile.

"Ouch."

"It's cast-only babe, sorry."

"So it's basically just you, me, Annabeth, and Rachel hanging out?" Percy asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep."

Annabeth takes a bite of her sandwich. "Technically, Pipes, you aren't in the cast."

"Fuck off, the whole cast exists because of me. Just be at my house by 7."

(How does somebody look cute when they're giggling through a mouthful of ham and cheese?)

.

As Percy stands on Piper's doorstep, he can't help but remember the first times he was there, nervous to even knock on the door. He smiles to himself as he opens the door himself; Piper never locks it after she lets Annabeth here, and Annabeth always shows up before him. He doesn't look back, but hears Leo's truck drive away behind him.

Everybody else—the whole trio—is already on the couch, huddled around Piper's laptop.

"Dude, Percy get in here!" Piper calls.

There's not exactly much space on the couch, so he ends up sitting in the only available spot next to Annabeth. (Rachel and Piper both prefer the right side.)

"The video's actually fucking doing well," Rachel comments. "It already has, like, ten thousand views."

"Is that a lot?" He asks.

"After a day? For a shitty video made by a bunch of high schoolers? Ten thousand's pretty amazing, Seaweed Brain." A bit of pride leaks through Annabeth's usual deadpan.

Piper hits the refresh button. "Almost eleven thousand!"

"Have you guys just been sitting here, refreshing the page?" Percy can't help but wonder.

"Yep," Rachel beams. "It's been, like,  _sooo_  much fun."

"Not doing anything else?"

"We ordered pizza like twenty minutes ago," Piper shrugs.

He laughs. "Exciting night."

"Better than whatever you would've been doing on your own, Jackson." She counters.

"Fair enough. Can we at least, like…watch the video? I haven't seen it yet."

"You haven't  _seen_  it?" Piper asks incredulously. Annabeth and Rachel both give her a look at the same time, and noticing each other, make eye contact. A bit of confusion falls into Rachel's expression. (He thinks.)

"Let's just watch it. We can't spend the entire night just sitting here and refreshing it." Annabeth shrugs, but Percy can make out a bit of a blush through the dim living room light.

"Alright, you guys, chill."

 _Instagram Immortals_ is surprisingly funny, and not even in an awkward way; somehow, through some sort of editing magic, Piper's made Percy seem like he's a decent actor, instead of just an idiot wearing yellow skinny jeans and a scarf. The Starbucks they ended up filming at—the one where Jason works—turned out to be the perfect setting.

(The part where Athena and Poseidon kiss is awkward to watch, even though it only lasts for a few seconds. Piper added in cheesy romantic music in the background. He can feel Annabeth fidget a bit next to him, but he doesn't look.)

There's a moment's pause once the video stops playing. Nobody says anything, but it feels like somebody should.

"That was better than I expected it to be," Percy manages after a second, laughing. "Good job with the editing, Queenie."

"You're welcome, Jackson. I made you look  _so_  good." Piper doesn't look at him, just leans forward to refresh the page again. "Shit, twelve thousand!"

.

"Poseidon's way better than Athena," Percy finds himself arguing two hours later, leaning against the arm rest of the couch. There's a movie playing in the background—some cheesy horror—but he isn't really watching. Annabeth isn't, either.

"You're insane," She shakes her head insistently. "Athena has  _wisdom._ Poseidon just has 'the sea' or whatever. She's obviously better."

Percy nudges her with his elbow. "What good are your smarts gonna do you if you don't have any water to drink, Wise Girl?"

She rolls her eyes, elbowing him back harder. "You can't even drink salt water."

"Well, Poseidon…didn't he create horses? Those are pretty fucking important," He says.

"And  _Athena_  created the chariot, which made horses  _much_  more efficient and useful—"

"Percy?" Rachel interrupts from her seat on the other side of the couch.

He sits up a bit straighter. (Is it his imagination, or does Annabeth sit up, too?) "What's up?"

"I'm getting kind of tired. You ready to leave?"

Percy stands up right away, ruffling his hair and smiling. "Totally! Let's go."

"What?" Piper groans, pausing the movie. "It's like nine thirty, you grandma."

"I have to get up early tomorrow. I'm working on a new painting, and Ms. Delphi lets me have extra time if I come before school starts." Rachel explains.

"Laaaaaaaame," She isn't very good at concealing her smile, but she does her best. "See you at lunch, Percy."

"See you."

(Guess he doesn't have to worry about sitting with them anymore.)

.

When they get to Percy's apartment building, Rachel gets out, too.

"Are you walking me to my door? I think I can defend myself for a good ten feet, but I appreciate the chivalry—"

"We should talk."

Rachel's voice is the most serious he's ever heard it, and this catches him off guard.

"Is something wrong?" He asks, still standing on the cracked sidewalk. It's warmer out now.

She shakes her head. "No. But we still need to talk."

"Okay," Percy says unsteadily. "What's up?"

"Something's happened between you and Annabeth before."

It's noteven a question, and this completely throws him off. The only person that knows anything about that is Hazel; Annabeth clearly never told anybody. How does Rachel—

"Right? I kind of picked up on the vibe between you two when we met, but I did my best to ignore it."

He sighs, moving his hair out of his face. "I mean…yes, a while ago. It wasn't anything huge."

(Not to her, at least. Not to anybody but him.)

"You like her." Rachel says simply, making direct eye contact. He's struck again by how vividly green her eyes are, almost neon, and wonders what she's trying to do.

"I don't…I mean, I did, but we're—I'm past that now. We're friends. I like  _you_ , Rachel."

"She likes you, too, you know."

Despite the unexpectedness of this confrontation, despite the fact that Percy feels like he has a fist in his throat, he can't help but laugh. This may be the first time Rachel's ever been wrong. "No she doesn't."

"I know Annabeth. I've known her since middle school." She takes a breath. "Trust me, she's doing a really good job of ignoring it—I think we all have, honestly—but she likes you."

"Where is this coming from? Rachel, you're…you're great. You're funny and creative and way better than me and I like  _you_. I went through a lot of confusing shit with Annabeth, but that…it's over. I'm over her."

(Why does it feel like he's lying? Why does he feel so terrible?)

"You guys are like the real-life Poseidon and Athena. Funny that you ended up writing a story about yourself, huh?" Maybe one of the most confusing things is the complete lack of bitterness in Rachel's tone. She sounds as calm as she always does.

" _What_?" The gears in her head are turning way too fast for Percy to keep up. How long has she been thinking about this?

"Poseidon forgets about Medusa. They even mention it in some versions of the story. But he's gonna spend the rest of his life—his  _eternal_  life—around Athena." Rachel's expression does have a trace of something sad in it; something like defeat. Not very much of it, though. (Why isn't she upset?)

Percy grabs her hand, shakes his head. He can only think to argue about the mythology. "What are you talking about? Poseidon and Athena never had a thing for each other, you know that! It was just Piper's idea for the video. Annabeth and I didn't even put it in the original story."

"Medusa was just a detail in the story. After everything ends, she just kind of-" Rachel spreads her arms out, pulling her hand from his in the process. "-fades away. Do you think she knew that everything she had with Poseidon was temporary? She must've."

"You aren't temporary, Rachel."

"Maybe she didn't, though. Maybe that's why she turned into a bitter old hag. I'm not gonna do that, Posei—Percy."

"I'm not Poseidon!" He shakes his head, almost violently, and there's a pleading in his tone. "I'm not some douchebag who uses girls and doesn't give them a second thought. I don't go into things planning on them ending."

"You don't wear yellow skinny jeans, either."

"I'm being serious!"

"So am I." She shrugs. "There's no such thing as a perfect metaphor, I guess. This one just happens to come pretty close."

Percy tries to grab her hand again, but she doesn't let him. There's a small smile on her lips. (The green in her hair is so faded, it looks like a chlorine-stained blonde.) "If you aren't going to let this happen naturally, I'm going to have to officially break up with you, and I really don't want to do that."

"Then why are you doing this? You're actually going to end things over this—over a metaphor? Really?" His face and voice are both rife with disbelief.

"It's inevitable. I kind of want to see it happen, if we're being honest."

"Annabeth has a boyfriend." Percy says suddenly, like it's the only argument he has left.

Rachel smiles again, like he's proving her point, and he hates it. "Luke is…bad for her. Really bad. She doesn't say anything, but it's hard not to notice."

(He's noticed the red flags, of course he has, but he always dismisses them. How could that be possible? How could anybody do that to her?)

"What do you—"

"Listen, I'm not going to say anything if I don't know that it's one hundred percent true, but I will say that Luke's an ass. None of us really like him. Not anymore, nobody except for Ath—Annabeth. And Thalia. They've known him forever."

"This is… _insane_ , Rachel." Percy shakes his head again. "What do you expect me to do?"

"Get dumped. Go for Annabeth." She raises her eyebrows. "It's pretty simple, really. Are you having trouble keeping up, Perce?"

"I can't…" He stares down at his feet.

"Why not? What's stopping you? Because it's not me. Not anymore, at least. I'm not into being an obstacle."

He can't think of anything to say. He can't think of anything at all. This is coming out of nowhere, and he hasn't had any time to process. (How long will this take to process?)

Rachel stands on her tiptoes, tugs him down by his shoulders, and kisses him on the cheek.

Then, she walks back to her car. He hears the door shut. He hears the engine start. Percy watches Rachel drive away, more confused than he's been in a very long time.

-

For no particular reason, Annabeth wakes up in a good mood.

Well, that's not true. She has plenty of reasons to be in a good mood today.  _Instagram Immortals_  is doing better than any of them expected. Senior year is ticking down, only a month left, and school is easier than it's ever been for her. Luke is still in town, still happy. Things aren't weird between her and Percy anymore.

It all stacks up to make her feel better than she has in months. In years, maybe. In a long time.

She smiles at her dad and her step mother when she passes them in the kitchen to grab her lunch and a granola bar for breakfast. She smiles at her reflection in the mirror. She even manages to keep up her smile as she checks her phone. (This has to be some kind of record for her.)

When Annabeth unlocks her phone, YouTube is already opened. She waits for the view count to refresh before closing it— _sixteen thousand views—_ and her smile kicks up a bit. Then, she checks her messages.

**Luke: Taking you to school today. Be outside at 7**

It's currently 7:03. "Shit," Annabeth hisses, running around her room to grab her bag, her headphones, the book she's been making solid progress through for the past month or so. Somewhere in between this and rushing out of the door to Luke's car, the smile sneaks off of her face.

"Late," He says, staring out the front windshield as she sits down, closing the door behind her. He's tapping his fingers on the steering wheel slowly.

She takes a second to breathe, putting the smile back on her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't see your message until later and I wasn't quite ready—"

"I forgive you. You know I hate it when you're late, but you're not gonna do it again. Right?"

"Right," Annabeth nods. The relief takes no less than a second to flood her, like it always does when he forgives her. (He always forgives her. It takes time, sometimes, but he does.)

"Exactly. So I forgive you."

It's always been that simple.

"Anyways, we're going out tonight." Luke says, glancing at her, his voice warming.

"We are? What's the occasion?" She asks.

"You're finally done with that stupid video. You don't have to be at Piper's house all of the time anymore, and you don't have to waste time around that Johnson kid, either."

"Percy?" Annabeth furrows her brows. It's easy to forget that Luke doesn't know everything happening in her head sometimes, that he doesn't know that Percy's not all that bad. "He's actually not—"

They stop at a red light, and he turns to stare at her, one eyebrow raised. "What, did you two fall in love during the shoot? I heard that happens to  _actors_  sometimes."

"No, of course not, don't be silly."

"I don't think I'm being silly, Annabeth. I thought it was kind of silly how seriously you all took your little project, if we're being honest. But after all of the ranting about what an idiot this guy is, how frustrating he was to be around, you're trying to say that he's the nicest, dreamiest guy you've ever met?"

Annabeth's jaw drops in protest. "That's not what I said at all, Luke!"

"It's what you meant."

"No, it's not. Idiot Jackson is still an idiot, okay? You don't need to worry."

Luke sighs as the light turns green, staring straight ahead. "Lately, it feels like I'm the only one putting effort into this relationship. You don't care anymore."

"That's not true! I haven't stopped loving you since we started dating five years ago, you know that." Annabeth hates it when this happens, when she manages to mess everything up, when she gets him upset. She hates that she can never be perfect for him.

He shakes his head. "I know, sweetie. I know. You just don't act like you love me sometimes."

"I—" She bites her lip, pretending she doesn't feel the slightest sting of tears threatening to appear. Luke hates it when she cries. "I'm sorry."

"I forgive you."

.

Annabeth's too out-of-focus from this morning to check her email once school starts. (Percy always sends them early in the morning, she's noticed.)

She's out-of-focus all day, really. It seems like only a few minutes of the day pass by before she's sitting down for lunch.

"Twenty-five thousand," Piper says as she takes her seat, grinning like usual. (She and Jason never take their problems in public; they only ever seem happy.)

"Wow, really?" Annabeth asks, trying to look more excited than she feels.  _Stupid video. Silly little project._  "That's awesome."

" _Wow, really_?" Piper mimics in a small voice. "What, are you already done caring about the video? This thing is actually starting to take off!"

She shrugs. "It's really exciting, Pipes, I'm just not in the mood."

"Not in the mood for what?"

Percy sits down next to her, like he has the past few says, but it feels like he's doing something wrong today. (Maybe it's not just her, either. He seems more hesitant than usual.)

"Oh, sweet, somebody who actually gives a shit!" Piper shifts her attention to him. "Instagram Immortals hit 25,000 views, dude!"

"Awesome!"

It's more enthusiastic than Annabeth's response had been, but not by much, and much less than anybody would ever expect from him.

"Jesus, you too?" She frowns. "Did the same person piss in you guys' corn flakes this morning? That's a quarter of a hundred thousand views! And a hundred thousand views is ten percent of a million views! This is huge!"

"So this is what it takes for you to actually bother doing math," Annabeth can't help but comment, a bit of a smile rising on her lips.

"Shut up. Jason," She turns to her boyfriend, who's been very deliberately focused on his food. "Be excited about this for me."

He lets out a cheer, pumping his fist in the air. "Twenty-five thousand! That's huge!"

"Thank you!" She says, exasperation in her tone, stabbing at her macaroni. "Nice to know that  _somebody_ cares."

Even though they're going the same way, Annabeth and Percy don't walk to class together.

.

By the time Luke knocks on the door to pick her up, she's already ready. (Standing by the door, if we're being honest.)

"Look at you, all dressed up," He smiles down on her as he walks inside. "I've always liked that sweater."

Annabeth glances at it, the bright red fibers, and smiles a bit. "I know."

"It makes your eyes look blue; it's nice."

Even when she was little, Annabeth had never wanted blue eyes. She thought they were overrated. "Thanks. So what are we doing tonight?"

"Staying in, I think. The weather's not too good. Humid."

She'd noticed that. It's been one of those heavy days, where the pressure is off and it feels like the sky could open up at any second. These sorts of days always make her feel dizzy.

"Are we gonna hang out in my room, then?"

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"No, sounds like fun." Annabeth hadn't really been in the mood to go out, anyways. "My family isn't home, though."

"It's okay. I know they trust me."

They definitely trust Luke. (Whether or not they trust her, that's what's up in the air.)

In Annabeth's room, they end up watching Netflix on her bed. She's sitting in his lap, sort of. In between his legs, leaning back against his chest, his arms wrapped around her. It's got that same comfortable familiarity that's found in everything they do.

The movie they'd been watching—Beauty and the Beast, the animated version—ends, and she turns her face to look at Luke. He kisses her before she can speak.

"What do we want to watch next?" She asks when he's done.

"You know what would be funny, actually?" Luke starts, smirking. There's a glint in his eyes that Annabeth has seen a thousand times but has never been able to categorize; it makes her feel happy and uneasy at the same time, and it gives her absolutely no read on how he's feeling. "If we watched your little video."

She furrows her brow. "Really? You want to?"

He nods. Annabeth almost wants to describe him as benevolent for a strange moment.

"Okay."

The entire time the video's playing, she forces herself not to look back at Luke. It's about as difficult as she expects it to be, but she manages. She can't keep herself from checking the views count again. Fifty thousand. (It really is doing well.)

The moment where Annabeth and Percy kiss makes her heart stop for a moment, and Luke's grip tightens around her, but he doesn't say anything. The air gets uncomfortably tense.

When the video ends, the room is overtaken by a frosty silence. Annabeth's throat gets tight, her palms begin to sweat, and her heart pounds like it wants to bruise her ribs.

"That was, somehow, worse than I expected it to be," Luke says coldly.

She can't bring herself to say anything. All she can do is swallow tightly.

He shifts behind her, his arms moving back, and she moves away from him, turning around so she can look him in the eye. The expression on his face makes Annabeth panic.

"Was it his idea to have you two kiss? Not that it matters, seeing how much you clearly fucking enjoyed it."

"I didn't—I didn't enjoy it at all! It was the worst part of filming the whole thing, it was Piper's idea, I didn't want to at all—"

"I don't understand why you think lying to me will make this any better, Annabeth."

Annabeth shakes her head desperately, furiously, like there's water stuck in her ears. "I'm not lying, Luke, why would I want to kiss—"

"Stop talking, Annabeth."

She wants to, but she can't help herself; something inside of her is frantic to defend herself. "No, Luke, you just don't understand, it isn't anything, Percy isn't—"

Maybe saying his name was the wrong idea.

"Stop  _fucking talking_ , Annabeth!" He says, raising his voice. Yelling.

But she can't stop everything that's coming out. "I love  _you_ , Luke, not anybody else, it was just a stupid video—"

He slaps her so quickly that she doesn't even see him raise his hand before her vision goes dark.

Annabeth stops talking. Stops thinking, really. A few tears stream down her face immediately, like they've been pushed out by the force, and her hand raises to her face instinctively. She scrambles off the bed—to get away from him?—and Luke follows. He's so much taller than her that it's frightening.

" _Listen to me_." Luke says, his tone as biting as a palm against her cheek. "I've been really  _fucking nice_  about your stupid little video project, Annabeth. Too nice, probably, because it's been a while since I've seen you and it seemed like it made you happy."

She stares at him. Her eyes are wide. (Is she processing anything he says? Anything past the ringing in her ears?)

"That piece of shit you just showed me? It wasn't worth the fucking time to watch, you know that? Much less the time you took to make it." He looks away from her, his eyes narrowing with what can only be described as disgust. "If I had known your video was some shitty twelve-year-old's excuse to make out with some fucking  _nobody_ , I wouldn't have let you make it. I'm too  _fucking_  nice to you, you know that?"

Luke's yelling—full out now—and his voice bounces off of the walls, making the room feel smaller. Annabeth should be crying. She can feel it behind her eyes, she knows she's ready to, but the fear she feels right now is overwhelming anything else.

"Jesus Christ. When did you turn into a fucking slut, Annabeth? And why did you try to hide it from me like this? Why are you always fucking lying to me?"

She wants to say something, anything, to make him forgive her, to prove that she's sorry, but there's nothing there. Maybe she's lost her voice.

"Sometimes I wonder why I bother with you." He says coldly.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth manages finally. It's a shaky whisper that she's only ever heard from herself a few times. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

Luke pushes past her and leaves the room.

She flinches when the front door slams behind him. It takes an hour for her to stop shaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these three chapters grouped together are kind of a roller-coaster...here you go.


	5. a confession (or two), a hallway, a family

“What the _fuck_ happened to you?” Piper asks.

It had taken an hour for Annabeth to stop shaking, to stop crying.

Then all she could think to do was call Piper.

For moral support, mostly, probably. She did ask her to bring the makeup they’d used for _Instagram Immortals_. (She doesn’t wear makeup, and the bruise is already starting to show in the mirror. He didn’t mean to hit her that hard, but _Jesus,_ Luke’s strong.)

“…I got into an argument with Luke…” There’s a lot more to it than that, but she needs more time before she can relive it.

“What the fuck kind of argument gives you a bruise on your face?”

Annabeth shakes her head. “It’s not like that. I’ll—I’ll explain later. Did you bring the makeup?”

The fight in Piper’s eyes is obvious; the anger, how ready she is to fight. She almost starts crying again when she swallows hard and nods. “Yeah. I did.”

“Thank you,” She says quietly, and it’s not just for the concealer.

.

Piper keeps hitting her face with a sponge, and it aggravates the angry, red spot on her cheek enough to make her eyes water.

“Do you want me to stop?”

Annabeth shakes her head stubbornly, wills the tears not to fall. She doesn’t want to be so weak that a sponge makes her cry. (She doesn’t want anything to make her cry, but let’s start with the small things.)

“Annabeth?” She stops anyways.

Another glimpse of herself in the mirror, and there’s some strange green paint half-blended into her cheek. “Yes?”

“Can you please tell me what happened?”

Annabeth wants to. She really, really wants to. She’s wanted to tell her—tell her _everything_ —since the morning she woke up with her bedroom window cracked. And she has to explain everything, there’s no way around it, there’s no way to explain the bruise and the tears without going months back, and without saying a lot of things out loud for the first time. _It’s a school night_ , she thinks dimly, but that’s the only excuse she can think of.

“I kissed Percy.”

“I don’t think you can count the video kisses as—”

“Made out with him. Before the video even started. Before we even turned in the stupid story.”

She looks to Piper’s face for a reaction, but there isn’t much there. It takes another second, and then something creeps in—disbelief?

“Are you joking?”

“I wish I was.” God, she really, really did.

“You—Idiot Jackson—you fucking…you _made out with him_? _What_?”

Some odd switch comes in the dynamic. The biggest part of the secret, the thing that’s held her breath for months is out, and now there’s nothing to do but speak.

“The night we wrote the story for out project. We ended up working really late, and he had to stay the night, and then we ended up talking, and I realized that I like—liked him. A lot. And apparently, he liked me too, so he kissed me, and I kissed him back.”

“How is this the first I’m hearing about this?”

“That morning, I called you, and you told me Luke was back.”

“Oh,” Piper says quietly. “Well, shit.”

“I…I didn’t think it was cheating. He never talked to me anymore, it had been years, I just,” Annabeth takes a breath. “I didn’t think I would be fucking everything up when I did it.”

“Annabeth, that’s not your fault. You know that, right? I know Luke ignored you.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“So, what? Did he find out that you guys made out?”

She half expects herself to flinch as Piper says this, but she doesn’t. She has no idea what’s suddenly making this okay. (Not okay. That’s not the word.)

“Jesus, no. He’d probably kill me if he found that out.”

Annabeth meant it as a joke. The thought doesn’t cross her mind until just now, until she says the words. A chill passes between the both of them. 

“He wouldn’t kill you.”

And suddenly the situation becomes so absurd, so alien, that Annabeth laughs. Not a real laugh. A little, stiff thing. “He slapped me. He watched the video even though he only ever calls it stupid and then the part happened where we—where Percy and I kiss—and he got mad.”

“He got mad over the kiss in the video? He _slapped you_ over it? It was like two awkward fucking middle schoolers pushing their faces together. That was _nothing_.” Piper’s starting to get worked up, which is bad, because that’ll get Annabeth worked up, and she can’t cry again. She won’t.

“I mean, maybe he jumped to some conclusions, but…he was right. It’s still my fault. I…I deserved it, honestly.”

“Annabeth Chase, you take that back right fucking now,” Piper’s tone gets deathly serious. Maybe more serious than she’s ever heard her. “There is no reason in the _goddamned_ world that you deserve that shit. _Fuck that_.”

“But he wouldn’t do that unless I—”

“You can’t blame yourself for his bullshit—”

“But he wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t—”

“He shouldn’t have done it at all—“

“I love him—he, he loves me, he just—“

“He fucking hit you, Annabeth!”

“We’ve been together since middle school and he’s never done anything like this!” Annabeth finally gets out a full sentence, and her breathing is a bit uneven.

“Wrong, Annabeth! You’ve been together since _you_ were in middle school. Luke was a fucking tenth grader. That’s never been okay.”

“You always thought it was the coolest thing when we started dating,” She objects stubbornly.

“I was twelve. And you were twelve too! And he was, let me remind you, sixteen! Has that honestly never struck you as the tiniest bit messed up?”

 _No_ , Annabeth thinks. _No, it hasn’t_.

“I love him, Piper.”

She can’t come up with anything else to say. Piper gives up, she can see it happen, and it makes her shoulders sag a bit.

Shaking her head, Piper picks up the sponge, starting to paint some skin-colored liquid on top of the green, like they’ve already had this conversation a thousand times.

How long has she felt that way?

Despite her best efforts, she winces when the sponge hits her skin. (Is it just her, or is Piper hitting lighter than before?)

.

Piper ends up leaving around eleven.

When Annabeth wakes up, her makeup is still on. Not really even smudged.

The only hint of her tears, of the shaking, of all the yelling—it’s only her skin, raised and just a bit sensitive.

She doesn’t want anything to be different. Honestly, truly, she wants to get out of bed and have it all be a dream. She doesn’t want to be scared to wash her face.

Annabeth pulls on a gray sweater, makes one of her daily decisions to give up on her hair. Goes through all the motions like another normal day. Lets it blur behind her. 

Of course Piper has to go and throw a wrench in her plans. When she gets to Greek Mythology, she can feel all of the worried glances she’s given.

(Weirdly enough, she never locks eyes with Percy. Not that it’s a bad thing—honestly, Annabeth isn’t sure it’s not a great thing—just unusual.)

All she can think to do is stare at the board the entire time. Maybe she isn’t paying attention, and maybe she still feels Piper’s insistent eyes on the back of her head, but the time passes quickly enough. When the bell rings, she’s jarred out of her daze by Mrs. Aella’s mousy voice.

“Um, Annabeth, Percy—I—stay here for a minute, please.”

Her stutter isn’t as bad as it used it be. They stand by her desk as everybody files out, and so much is different but everything’s the same. Percy doesn’t look at Annabeth. Annabeth doesn’t look at Percy. They’re on the exact same page for once, but it doesn’t feel right; like maybe they’re reading different books entirely.

“I don’t…I don’t want to hold you two during lunch…” She wrings her wrists, something else familiar, but the anxiety’s died down. Annabeth is almost happy for her. Her cheek gives a little burst of soreness as she smiles. “Can—can you two stay after school? I want to, um, talk to you two. I have—there’s a faculty meeting after school, but this one should be short. Twenty, thirty minutes at the most. Ca—can you both? Would you mind, um, please?”

Maybe it’s the same book after all, because they choose this moment to turn to each other. There’s an uncertainty in Percy’s eyes that she isn’t used to seeing, but Annabeth’s sure her eyes read the same way. She ignores how...whole she feels, staring at him like that, him staring back. (It turns out that she’s very good at ignoring things.)

“I’m okay with it,” She says, and Percy agrees in suit.

Have they always been making decisions for each other like this?

.

At lunch, Jason’s expression is worried, too. Not that either of them says anything. When Percy sits down with them at the table, inedible lunch in tow, their eyes—surprisingly—leave her. Annabeth takes a moment to look at him, and something is…off. He’s smiling, but not like he normally does. Not like he should.

“Hey man,” Jason says, nodding. “How you doing?”

Percy looks up at him, surprised. “I’m good. What’s up?”

“We, uh,” Piper smiles awkwardly, her eyes flicking back to her for a split second. “We heard about you and Rachel.”

His smile dims even more, and it looks wrong, oh-so wrong. “Oh. Yeah. She ended things last night.”

This is enough to jar Annabeth from her daze. “Wait, seriously?”

He looks almost surprised by her reaction—uncomfortable with it. “Yeah.”

“Why?” She can’t help but ask. “You guys were…nice together.”

(Pineapple on pizza. Milk before cereal.)

“She said something about vibes.” Percy shrugs. (Is he not looking her in the eye on purpose? That’s her thing.)

“Oh.” Annabeth doesn’t know why the next beat of her heart feels a bit giddy—stupid—but she doesn’t like it.

“Tough break, bro,” Jason says. Piper and Annabeth lock eyes and can’t hold in the beat of laughter that comes next. A bit of milk trickles out of Piper’s nose, but Jason either ignores it or doesn’t notice in the first place. “Rachel’s a great girl, but she’s not the only great girl. There’ll be somebody else.”

“Here’s hoping, I guess, bro,” Percy says, his smirk perking up a bit. The two boys clink their milk cartons together and take a swig, like they choreographed it this morning.

The two girls laugh again, and it’s like everything is back to the normal it had just settled in.

Smiling makes Annabeth’s bruise sting.

.

He’s sick of all of this tension.

Annabeth is great. Being around her is great. When things are good, when there aren’t any beats in their wavelengths, just being in the same room as her is better than the best conversation he’s ever had with anybody else.

Percy really, really wishes they had more time together where things are good. Things keep going wrong and yeah, some of them are his fault, but there are a lot of things that he just can’t control. Every time he’s around her, it’s all or nothing. He can do no wrong, or he can do no right.

There’s just never any middle ground. He’s almost desperate; he wonders what it would feel like to just be in neutral around her. (He can’t even imagine it.)

“What do you think she wants to talk to us about this time?” He needs to break the silence, even though that never fails to make him feel stupid, either.

Annabeth shrugs. “Probably something about the video. She’s probably seen it by now—it’s almost at a hundred thousand views.”

“A _hundred thousand_?” Percy’s lived in big, bustling New York City his whole life, but he can’t imagine so many people in one place. He definitely can’t imagine that many seeing something based on a creative writing assignment he had to do for a homework grade.

“Have you not been checking it?” There’s a bit of disdain in Annabeth’s voice, but when she turns to look at him—finally—she remembers. Her face flushes, expect for one patch on her cheek that stays oddly pale. “Forget I said that. There’s…you’re situation, and you just…you and Rachel just…”

Her face glows brighter, pure red by now, but that spot on her cheek is unchanged. “You probably have other things to worry about besides the video.”

Of all of the signs, every little flag thing, everything that made exclamation marks pop up in his head, this is the one he can’t ignore. This is the one that’s too familiar.

Before Annabeth can react with her judo reflexes or her doubtful expressions, Percy lifts his hand to her face and taps the white spot with his thumb. She flinches as his hand moves up and winces when it settles.

“Did somebody hit you?” He really should phrase this more sensitively. He really shouldn’t spring that question on her like that. Annabeth is visibly uncomfortable, her eyes widening, her forehead and nose and chin and one of her cheeks growing redder.

“Wh—what makes you think…?”

“You don’t usually wear makeup. I remember that, cause Piper and Rachel had to help you with everything on filming day. And you only have it on one cheek right now, and it’s not blushing with the rest of you, and you’re flinching and wincing and—”

“Okay, Sherlock, yes.” She rolls her eyes. “Luke…we got into an argument, and he overreacted. It’s not a big deal. It doesn’t even hurt that much.”

Percy feels like hitting something.

Maybe Luke. That would work. See how he fares against somebody who’ll fight back. (Because he knows Annabeth can fight. He knows she’s strong. But what he’s seeing right now is somebody who didn’t fight back.)

Why didn’t she fight back?

“It’s really not a big deal,” Annabeth insists again, stubbornness and strength and awkwardness all in her tone; Percy remembers that his hand his still on her cheek, his thumb tracing over the slightly-raised skin. The makeup feels a bit tacky, and he knows that means it’s thickly applied. (What color is the bruise, he wonders? Purple? Green?)

A flush stains her face like it always does, but that one patch refuses to darken.

“Who—who did this to you?” He can’t help but ask.

“It doesn’t matter—”

“Yes, it does—”

“And it’s really none of your business—”

“You’re my—my friend, Annabeth,” Percy says with the slightest hesitation. Annabeth bites her lip. “I’m allowed to be worried.”

“It’s nothing.” Her face falls blank again, her tone defensively empty.

Percy lets his hand drop from the too-pale paint on her cheek. Takes a dep breath. Runs a hand through his hair. He can’t bring himself to speak again until she crosses her arms turns away. (He’s not sure he could look anybody in the eyes while he says this.)

“My mom used to be married. To a guy named Gabe.”

Even saying it makes his chest feel tight. Annabeth doesn’t acknowledge him, but Percy knows she’s listening. She’s always listening.

“He was nice at first, for like, two seconds. Then he started making these shitty, mean jokes. And insulting us. And yelling at us.”

He knows for sure that she’s listening now; he can practically see her ears perk up, and she sits taller in her seat.

“I didn’t,” He swallows hard, and it kind of hurts. “I didn’t know, the first time he hit her. Or the second time. Or…”

Percy doesn’t know how many times Gabe hit Sally before he found out. He remembers the off-color patches on her skin, the tackiness, but he can’t remember how many there were. He can’t help but clench his fists.

“I didn’t know about it until it had gone on for a while. She still smiled, you know? And hugged me, and made dinner every night. It felt like everything was fine.”

Her eyes might be watering. Percy can’t tell. He doesn’t want to look, doesn’t want to see her cry. Doesn’t want to be the reason she’s crying in the desk next to his.

“There were a thousand fucking signs, and I missed all of them, and it still kills me, right? So, yeah, it’s not my business,” His voice might’ve cracked somewhere in there. “But I can’t just ignore it.”

Annabeth looks at him, and her cheeks are wet, and Percy wants to bash his head into the wall and say sorry a thousand times and then go far, far away from this girl he’s made cry. Her face is still blank, relaxed. (She looks a bit pissed off, but that’s just the way her expression settles, he thinks.)

“I don’t…I don’t really know what to do,” She mumbles.

“I’m sorry,” He says back just as quietly.

“I love him,” She says, her voice rising a bit, gathering strength. Percy just got out of a relationship and hearing this shouldn’t hurt like it does. “I’ve loved him for as long as I can remember, Percy. We started dating when I was twelve, you know.”

( _Twelve?_ )

“Isn’t he, like…I dunno,” He rubs the back of his neck, nowhere near good enough with words to phrase this right. “Older?”

“Almost five years older.” Annabeth says, and there’s a begrudging little smirk on her face. Percy’s glad to see her smile, but it just seems like it doesn’t belong on her face, doesn’t belong with the makeup and the tear stains and what they’re talking about. “And that’s also how long we’ve been together now, I guess.”

“Wow.” Not information he expected when he woke up this morning. “That’s…a lot.”

“It really is, isn’t it?”

~

“Sorry. That meeting wasn’t too long, was it?”

“Not at all,” Annabeth smiles brightly. She’s starting to block out the sting. “What did you need to talk to us about?”

“It was…nothing very big. Really, I’m sorry to have kept you but I saw—I saw the video that you two made.”

She locks eyes with Percy instinctively, and neither of their expressions hold any surprise. “Oh, you did? It’s gotten pretty big, we weren’t expecting you to ever find it.”

Ms. Aella gives a smile. “Well, I—I did, and I thought it was…it was fantastic.”

“Thank you!” She gives her best ‘receiving-praise-from-teachers’ beam. “We worked really hard on it.”

Annabeth’s conducting their entire half of the conversation; Percy is (a bit concerningly) silent.

“I—I could tell!” The teacher’s face is genuinely bright. “It’s the most e-effort any of my s-students have ever put into…any of my assignments, really. Would you—you two mind if I showed it to the class tomorrow?”

“Not at all!” She says before she can think about it, her mind too occupied by Good Student mode to consider the request.

“Great!” Ms. Aella said. “I—I’m going to give you two extra credit for this, by the way. I l-love how much you two clearly…care about mythology!”

“Oh, um, Piper was a big help with the video,” Annabeth speaks up at the mention of extra credit. Her friend could probably use it. “She helped us make the story into a script, do all of the costumes, directing…”

The mousy woman nods, still smiling. “I’ll—I’ll be sure her hard work is r-recognized as well.”

The three of them are static for a moment—Ms. Aella still standing, Percy and Annabeth still sitting in desks.

“Are we…was that all?” Percy has to clear his throat as he speaks; his voice is strangely rusty.

“Oh, yes!” She nods. “Thank you…thank you both for waiting. And for doing the video. You—you’re both very good students.”

Annabeth is pretty sure she hears Percy hold back a laugh behind her. The sting behind her smile isn’t entirely lost on her as she gathers her things.

Once they’re in the hallway, he calls out behind her, no longer hiding his laughter. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been called a ‘very good student’.” 

She laughs to herself, but keeps walking.

Annabeth can’t keep…surrounding herself with him. It’s not intentional, but she’s noticed the way he’s been behind every corner for months now, ready to say something stupid and do something sweet and make her face boil, and it needs to stop. Percy’s the reason that it hurts to smile.

(That stops her train of thought in a heartbeat. _Don’t blame this on him._ )

“Annabeth?”

She keeps walking.

“Okay, is this where we’re at right now? It’s usually pretty hard for me to pick out, so thanks for making it obvious.”

She slows down.

“Is it always gonna be like this?” He calls out after her. Annabeth can’t tell if he sounds angry, sad, frustrated, bitter, confused…it’s all getting mixed up. “I’m asking for a friend.”

She stops. “Do you have any better ideas, Percy? If you do, I’m all ears, because I don’t.”

“Better ideas for what?” The confusion in his voice begs her to turn around, to face him, and she knows it’s a bad idea even as she does it. Her eyes start stinging.

“Things have been fucked up ever since I kissed you.”

Percy’s clearly caught off-guard by this, and Annabeth hates how pretty his eyes are as they widen. (Has she ever said those words out loud to him before? She can’t remember, but it doesn’t feel like anything less awful.)

“I’ve been trying to deal with it for a while, but it’s just…too much by now, Percy. Luke and I never fought this badly before you happened! Shit was never this confusing before you happened!”

“Before I ‘happened’?” He air-quotes, furrowing his brows.

“I don’t know how else to put it. You _happened_ to me. You’re like a natural fucking disaster, okay? You came into my life and you threw a wrench in things that I didn’t even know could have wrenches thrown into, and now I feel like everything in my life is completely out of my goddamned control!”

“I’m a _natural disaster_?” Percy asks incredulously.

“Yes, you are!” It registers in the back of her mind that she’s yelling, but she can’t do anything about it.

“How can you call me a _natural disaster_? That’s not…that’s not true! It’s not fair!”

Annabeth grabs her hair, letting her fingers get caught in the curls. “What are you then?”

“I’m a fucking _person_ , Annabeth.” He shakes his head. “This hasn’t exactly been a fantastic time for me either.”

That’s all it takes for Annabeth to lose all of her steam.

She looks down at the dirty linoleum tiles, biting her lip. “You’re right. That’s…I shouldn’t have said that.”

He doesn’t say anything; it makes her feel worse.

“We’re both…people.” She says instead.

“I just,” Percy looks down, frustrated but holding it back as best as he can. (She hates seeing him upset. She hates seeing him anything other than happy. She used to think his smile was irritating—enough to throw a book at his face, even—but when it isn’t on his face, Percy looks…wrong. Sad. Like he’s missing something.)

There’s so much earnestness in his face, and Annabeth’s used to it by now, but it doesn’t sting any less. “I just don’t understand, Annabeth, and—and I want to, so much. I know that this is all fucked up, and I know that it’s…it’s not all my business, and…I know that we aren’t even _friends_ , really—”

“Don’t say that.” She says automatically, without even thinking about it. (Why does that strike such a chord with her?)

“Why not? Can you really say we’re friends?” There’s doubt in Percy’s face, an eyebrow arched but the smile still absent, something like resentment laced through his features.

“I mean…” Annabeth didn’t think this far ahead. There’s no real answer. “No.”

The word lays between them, heavy and awkward. It’s true, but it doesn’t sound right.

“But what else is there?” She blurts, trying to push the obstacle out of the way. “We aren’t strangers. We aren’t…enemies. What else could we be?”

This sticks in the air between them even more than the _no_ did. Maybe she shouldn’t have said it. At the very least, maybe she shouldn’t have asked the question.

“I know you don’t want the answer,” Percy runs a hand through his hair, and the edges of a smile appear, but they aren’t right, he’s still not right. “I don’t really want it, either.”

“What do you—what do you mean?” She stumbles over her words; ironically, she’s never been the best actress.

“Rachel broke up with me because of you.”

This is the last thing Annabeth could’ve expected him to say, but through her shock she manages to go on the defensive. “What?”

“Shit, no, that…” He sighs. “That came out harsh. She broke up with me because of…us, I guess.”

“That makes no sense, Percy.” She shakes her head, and maybe she sounds a bit meaner than she should. “Why the hell would Rachel break up with you because of _us_? There isn’t an _us_.”

“That’s what I told her,” His tone indicates that he isn’t here to argue. (Is that what this is? Arguing?) “But she was convinced, and honestly, I felt like such an asshole of a boyfriend that I couldn’t argue.”

“How could you ever be an asshole of a boyfriend?” Annabeth said. “You’re probably the sweetest fucking idiot I’ve ever met.”

Percy his eyes with his palms, avoiding her eyes for a moment. “Thanks?”

She didn’t mean to say it. It was stupid. Everything she says to him is fucking stupid. “Sorry.”

“We’re never going to have a single normal interaction, are we?” He says suddenly, something almost bitter in the energy of his tone. “It used to be simple. I just,” Percy laughs to himself and even though it shouldn’t, it makes Annabeth so relieved she almost wants to grin back. “I would just piss you off in class because I thought you were pretty and smart, and you would turn all red, and I would get my Wise Girl fix for the day. Middle-school style. Easy shit.”

“I threw a book at your head.”

His eyebrow arches again and he doesn’t say it, but they both understand.

(That was, quite possibly, the easiest part of everything.)

She bites her lip and feels herself flush. It’s starting to spread to her ears, the mixture of embarrassment and confusion and frustration filling her face to the brim. “It’s not black and white, though. It’s not all bad.”

“I wish it didn’t have to be bad at all.”

“Is that even possible?” Annabeth manages a weak smile.

“Why shouldn’t it be?”

(That question is so unfair, so disarmingly simple, that she wonders if Percy is trying to prove a point.)

Annabeth doesn’t know why she just can’t leave the silence in peace. “Life can’t always be easy, Percy.”

“I know that,” He says. “But it feels like…like sometimes we all make it harder for ourselves.”

Most of the time, it seems like Annabeth can only make things harder for herself. Like there’s no other option but for everything to be a fight. (But not…not all of the time.)

“I don’t know how to say what I’m about to say, because I’m an expert at complicating things, and making things harder for myself, and just generally just fucking everything up,” She takes a breath like it’s the only thing she can handle.

“Things are only messy with you when I make it messy. About ninety percent of the reason nothing’s gone right between us is because…because I can’t let it be simple.”

Percy’s clearly hesitant to interrupt, but it’s taking Annabeth a bit too long to gather her thoughts. “What do you mean?”

The sigh she gives is so heavy that it makes the air in the hallway feel denser. “When I’m with you, I feel…” Annabeth pauses again. The words leaving her mouth are already unfamiliar on her tongue, difficult to get out. “Unrestrained. Like I’m running with weights all the time, but they slip off when you’re around.”

He nods, but says nothing, wetting his lips. They’re very pink, but the rest of him seems a bit paler.

“It’s just natural, and I think that freaks me the fuck out. I overcompensate. I choke up, I panic, I—I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to me that anything can be as easy as it is to be around you.”

“So in response, we’ve made it the hardest thing in the goddamned universe.” He supplies.

“Exactly,” She says, feeling relief flood her head, and she takes a step towards him without thinking. (Of course he understands.)

“So…where do we go from here?”

Annabeth furrows her brows. “What do you mean?”

“We can’t keep going on like this,” Percy says, running a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t make sense...it—it won’t last…it’s…”

“It’s unsustainable?” She comes a bit closer.

He blushes a bit. “Yeah. That’s a good word.”

Silence has taken on a thousand shades between them in these past months. It’s been filled with a thousand different things—tension, apprehension, confusion, yearning—and all the time it’s heavy. Right now, the silence is impossible to read.

“I don’t know what to do,” Annabeth says softly. “I really, really don’t.”

Percy takes a step towards her. “I don’t, either. You’re supposed to be the smart one here, Wise Girl.”

“Maybe you should’ve picked a better nickname,” She breathes. They’re face to face, inches apart. When did they get this close?

“Maybe you don’t need one,” He says back softly. “I like Annabeth.”

Kissing him without a camera around is an odd feeling. Kissing him is an odd feeling, really. Like she’s underwater, a bit, but also like she’s breathing cleaner air than she could ever find in the city. Like she’s drowning, but she’s more alive than ever.

Annabeth doesn’t really have time to think about this, though, because his lips are just as nice as she remembers and his hair is just as soft and he’s so _warm_ and—

She pulls herself away. He looks like a deer caught in the headlights with a pretty flush in his cheeks, and she probably looks the exact same way. (Who even started the kiss?)

“I can’t…” She shakes her head. Percy grabs her hand, and Annabeth hadn’t realized how cold her hand was until she felt the warmth of his own, but she can’t focus on that. A tear starts slipping down her cheek; hopefully her makeup holds up. “This is—this is way too much right now, Percy, I—”

Saying his name takes something from him. “I need to get home.”

“Annabeth—“

She pulls her hand from his before his grip can get any tighter, takes off down the hallway.

“Annabeth, wait!”

She does her best to tune out how sad his voice sounds, and she doesn’t breathe again until she’s in the driver’s seat of her car, crying every bit as hard as she had been last night.

~

"Percy?"

He isn't crying.

He might have to wipe his eyes before he turns to face the voice, but that doesn't mean he's crying.

"What are you still doing here?" Paul asks. "Are you…are you alright?"

He's such a great guy. Percy's mom isn't the type to get dreamy about anybody, but he's seen how she smiles when they're together. They haven't been together for very long, either, but Paul's never anything but good to the both of them.

"Yeah." It surprises him how thick his own voice is. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Are you sure?" The concern is his voice would usually be enough to make Percy angry, but he's a bit too spent at the moment to turn away kindness; even if it might be pity.

"I mean…not really. I'll be okay."

He's trying to help, Percy can tell, but he doesn't know if he wants  _help_. He doesn't know how anything can  _help_  the mess that he's—that they're—caught in.

"Well, I was just leaving," Paul says, his expression staying the same as the subject changes. "Do you want a ride home?"

Percy swallows hard before he smiles. Pride and shame all go down the same way, he notices. "Sure, yeah. That would be great."

He notices that Annabeth's car is still in the parking lot as they leave the school, but he looks away as soon as he sees it. "Paul?"

"Yeah, Percy?" The older man says, a reassuring kind of smile on his face.

(If Paul hadn't interrupted him, who knows how long he would've stood there, not-crying.)

"Thanks."

.

It's odd to see that his mom is home, but Percy has no issues with this. He loves spending time with her, and talking to her, and with the day he's just had he can use as much of that as he can get. Maybe some blue waffles, if he can swing it.

"Mom?" He calls as he opens their apartment door, dropping his keys back into his pocket.

"Hi honey!" Sally yells back. They've lived there for a long time now; long enough to explain all of the dents in the walls, and the scratches on the floor, and the way Percy can tell his mom's in the kitchen just from the sound of her voice. His stomach grumbles in anticipation.

"You're home early." He shuts the door behind him, walking into the living room and following the smell.

"Got sent home early for good behavior," She replies with only a hint of irony.

"We're capable of good behavior?"

"It was news to me, too," She answers, and he makes it to the kitchen just in time to see her grin. It's just as sarcastic as his own, but the rest of her face softens it out. Everything about Sally shows up in Percy, but just a bit sharper. Too sharp sometimes.

"Whatcha making?" He looks down at the pot on the stove, bubbling but empty. "Something blue, I hope?"

Sally turns to him, her brow creasing slightly. "Was it a blue food day?"

"Kind of, yeah." Percy tries to keep any hints that he's upset out of his voice; Sally's frown deepens anyways.

"Well…" She folds her arms, glancing around the kitchen, though she doesn't actually move from her spot. "We're out of blue pasta…"

(It was some stupidly expensive stuff, from a weird hipster shop. Percy bought it for her birthday, though, and the smile on her face was worth it.)

"Will the stash work?" Sally looks up at him. There's worry in her eyes, but a little mischief, too. Percy's relieved.

"The stash is perfect."

.

The Airheads are his favorite.

The weird liquid lollipop stuff that comes out of a tube is a close second.

Jolly Ranchers would be higher up on the list, but he never has the patience to keep himself from biting them, and it hurts his teeth.

Percy's favorite part, though, is looking at his tongue in the mirror after he eats, quite frankly, too much of every blue candy they have on deck. He pokes it out like a little kid—probably because he formed the habit about ten years ago—and no matter how shitty of a day he's had, it always makes him smile. Just a little bit.

Before he can get up to perform this ritual of his, Sally turns to face him. The Little Mermaid is playing on TV, her favorite, and the macaroni's a bit cold by now. "Are you going to tell me?"

Maybe it shouldn't—after all, his mom has never been clueless—but the question catches him off guard. "Tell you what?"

Sally's sigh is a bit teasing, but it would be impossible to miss the exasperation in it, too. "Honey, you've been off for months now. You haven't exactly been talking to me about it—" Percy's face heats up a bit, "—but I've noticed. I've been letting you do your own thing, giving you space, but…"

"You're worried about me." He says, a bit disappointed in himself. He hates it when she worries, especially about him.

"I'll stop being worried if you tell me what's wrong," She offers, a bit of a smile on her lips.

Percy can't help but laugh. It dies pretty fast.

"It's a girl."

Sally nods. She doesn't say anything else, waiting for him to go on.

"Her name is Annabeth, and I've been working on my video project with her for these past few months, and I kissed her the night that I lost track of time and she kissed me back.

"I think she liked me. I'm pretty sure. I definitely didn't like, force anything. But then the next week at school, she asked me if we could forget everything that happened, and told me she had a boyfriend.

"And I mean, I think she was trying to avoid me but the video stuff happened, and we had to be around each other for a while and we had to kiss for the video and it was really, really, awkward, and then I met Rachel and I thought being with her would make things easier, but it really didn't and all that did was make me feel like shit."

Percy doesn't like swearing in front of his mom, but he sort of needed to get the aggression out of his system. (He hasn't even been talking to Hazel about everything lately)

"And then Rachel broke up with me because she thinks I have feelings for Annabeth—which maybe I do but I was trying, really, really hard not to—and then I found out that Annabeth's boyfriend…he's a jerk, really, and we were talking today and I thought that everything was going alright, but then she said she couldn't be around me anymore and I asked her why everything between us was so… _weird_ …and somehow we ended up kissing and it made her cry and I don't think anything's okay."

Something about saying this feels good. Nothing is better, of course, but he feels lighter. Sally lets out a slow breath.

"Well, that certainly is…a lot."

"What do you think?" He asks, almost anxiously. He didn't realize how badly he wanted advice.

"I think," she frowns again, "…there is something there. But it could end up being nothing."

That's about exactly how Percy feels.

"Give her space. Even if she does feel the same way. She needs it."

He can do that. It's what she asked him for, anyways.

.

_Maybe I should just think about all of the bad things about her_ , he thinks.  _That would help, wouldn't it?_

_She probably isn't even that great._

_Like, blonde hair? Totally not my type._

_And gray eyes are kind of boring._

_Nobody likes a know-it-all, and she's a control freak, too. I'm better off not even bothering with her._

_Liar, liar, liar._  He's not even convincing to himself.

.

_His hair is really messy. I never really noticed it, but it's a complete disaster. He probably doesn't even brush it._

_And he always kind of smells like chlorine. It reminds me of being dragged to the pool when I was little. I always got my books wet._

_He's a stupid kind of beautiful. It makes no sense for somebody to look so intimidating and pretty at the same time._

_When it comes down to it, he's just illogical. I don't have time for him._

_Liar, liar, liar_ , she thinks, but shakes the thought out of her head. It's better this way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this thing is coming to an end soon. what would your ideal ending be?

**Author's Note:**

> i posted this on ffn about a year and a half ago, and i figured i'd put it on here as well. each chapter on here is three chapters in the original story, in case you were wondering, and even though it's still a wip, i have like three more sections to post on here. that's all for now, let me know if you guys want more?


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